


You Can't Outrun Yourself

by cazmalfoy



Series: Barry & Sebastian Allen [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Glee, Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen & Iris West Friendship, Canonical Character Death, M/M, Past Klaine, Poor Sebastian, Recreational Drug Use, References to Drugs, References to Underage Drinking, Sebastian & Oliver Friendship, Sebastian Smythe & Iris West Friendship, Twin Allens - Freeform, background Klaine - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:13:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 41,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7573636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cazmalfoy/pseuds/cazmalfoy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six months ago, Barry and Sebastian Allen opened up a worm hole. By doing so, they inadvertently ripped a hole between their world and Earth 2. </p><p>Now, as well as dealing with the changes to their lives, Barry and Sebastian have to find a way to stop Zoom, who quite possibly may be the scariest bad guy they've ever faced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Man Who Saved Central City

**Author's Note:**

> ** UPDATE - FEBRUARY 13 2017 **
> 
> First things first; I am SO sorry for the huge delay in me updating this story.
> 
> I have been trying to write this story for months, but something just wasn't working. So, after doing a Fagin, and reviewing the situation, I decided that the reason I couldn't get it to work was the Roy/Sebastian relationship. It just wasn't working.
> 
> Sorry if anyone actually liked the pairing, but it just wasn't sitting right for me.
> 
> With the announcement of a certain cast member, for a certain musical episode, I knew immediately that I had found the perfect way to make that (and the rest of season 3) tie into this universe.
> 
> I think you'll agree the story works much better with the addition of Blaine to the cast.
> 
> Thank you for being so patient with me, and I promise the rest of the story will be coming much faster than this update has bee.
> 
> THANK YOU
> 
> Caz M
> 
> * 
> 
> This is set during season 2 of the Flash, and covers the crossovers with Arrow and Supergirl. Obviously there will be spoilers for the whole season, plus these episodes.
> 
> I don't have a particular posting schedule for this story - I'm looking at a chapter a week. Also, the current chapter count may increase; I'm not sure how many chapters the Earth-2 episodes will spill over into.
> 
> As I progress through the story, I will be adding a few more tags. I don't want to add them now, because I don't want to spoil the surprise. Anything that could be potentially triggering will be warned properly at the beginning of that chapter, although I don't expect there to be anything.
> 
> With that said... Enjoy :-)
> 
> ***
> 
> Italics are flashbacks.
> 
> ***

Six months. 

It had been six months since the Flash and his little team at STAR Labs had recklessly created a singularity above Central City; a large hole which had threatened to suck the entire world into it.

Of course, the Flash had come through for everyone in the end and closed the hole, but the damage was done.

The speedster’s reputation had been ruined. The public’s opinion of the Flash was shot, and Barry Allen was finally alone for the first time in his life.

It would have been the perfect time to strike; to wipe the Flash from the face of the Earth and take his speed in the process.

But he had waited too long.

His ego had gotten the better of him. He had waited - biding his time - for the Flash to feel even more alienated from his friends and family. 

There was no way he could have foreseen that the alienation from everyone would actually strengthen the Flash’s determination to make amends for the devastation he and his team had caused.

These efforts hadn’t gone unnoticed by the citizens of Central City. 

It was hard to ignore how many buildings were miraculously repaired overnight by an unseen workman.

The Flash was repairing the city single handedly and the people loved him all the more for it.

Pretty soon, a calm had settled over the city and people had started acting as though the events of six months ago had never happened. 

A sneer curled his lip as he thought about how pathetic it was for the people to continue treating the Flash as though he was a hero. He was the one responsible for dozens - if not hundreds - of deaths.

The Flash should be a pariah, not their saviour.

He took a deep breath and uncurled his fists. Sure, his plans had changed but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t still get what he wanted.

He could still take every drop of the Flash’s speed, even if he was still a hero in the public’s eye. Hell, if he played his cards right, he might even be able to get away with making the Speedster faster.

Then there would be more speed for him to steal.

The thought of tapping into that potential energy was enough to make his mouth water and it was hard to restrain himself. 

There would be plenty of time for celebration later. He had a new plan and there was no way he was going to fail. 

He was going to build the Flash up, make him better than he ever had been in the past. 

Killing him would be even sweeter.

*

Slumped at his desk in the Central City Police station, Joe West could barely keep his eyes open.

It was almost nine o’clock and he had been at work for… He couldn’t even remember how long. 

All he knew was that it was a lot longer than he should have been.

Six months ago, Joe knew he would have been able to hurry through his paperwork and head home to spend the evening with his kids at a reasonable time. 

Anything he hadn’t been able to complete, Eddie would have been more than willing to help him. 

The Meta-Human task force was his creation, and Eddie had been proud of it. Joe had never wanted to be part of it in the first place. 

Of course, now he didn’t have a choice.

Joe’s eyes flickered over to the empty desk, as they usually did whenever memories of Eddie engulfed his thoughts. Some days it was hard to believe so much time had passed; that Eddie had been gone for so long.

But then, there were days where thoughts of the other man, and the events that led to his death, brought a wave of pain that felt so acute it was hard to concentrate. It felt as though he had been gone six minutes, not months.

“West!” Captain Singh’s yelled voice cut through Joe’s thoughts, snapping him back to the real world sharply.

Joe bit back a sigh and ran a hand over his face, trying to force himself to wake up, before turning to face the Police Captain. “Sir?”

Singh frowned at the expression Joe hadn’t been able to keep from his face. “How long have you been here, Joe?” he asked, his voice taking on an unusually sympathetic tone. 

The darker skinned police officer shrugged a shoulder. “I have no idea,” he admitted sheepishly. 

“Go home,” Singh instructed, shaking his head. “The meta-humans will still be here tomorrow. Besides,” he continued after a beat, “I need you sharp tomorrow for Flash Day.”

Flash Day. Joe had almost forgotten about that. Although, how that was possible, he had no idea.

Everywhere you turned in the city, there were posters reminding people of the upcoming celebration.

Almost every police officer was on duty the next day; even those on leave had been recalled. None of them were stupid enough to think that whatever meta-human drought they had been in was going to last.

What better time than to make a comeback than on the day celebrating the most famous of Central City’s meta-humans.

Of course, no one could say for certain that the Flash was actually going to attend. Even Joe didn’t know.

His son was very unpredictable at the moment. 

*

Heavy bass pounded from the speakers in the corner as Iris danced around her bedroom, glass in one hand, mascara wand in the other. She didn’t know what the song was - honestly they all kinda sounded the same, and it was Sebastian’s CD that she’d stolen _years_ ago - but it didn’t matter.

She was almost ready to hit the clubs with her brother, and then she would be too drunk to care what she was listening to.

Three hours earlier, she had arrived home from work and had immediately pampered herself with a bubble bath and candles. It was longer than she usually took to get ready; compared to some of her friends (namely, Sebastian) she was relatively low maintenance.

But it had been a particularly trying day and she liked to think that she deserved a little bit of TLC before she and Sebastian headed out to get completely wasted.

The day hadn’t started off bad. In fact, until lunch time, Iris had been feeling that happiest she had for months.

Then someone had reminded her that the following day was Flash Day.

Her good mood had come crashing down around her after that.

She was proud of Barry and the fact that the city was honouring him. He was her brother, of course she was happy.

But thoughts of _why_ they were honouring him - how he saved them from the singularity - always brought with them memories of who they had lost that day.

Plenty of people had died that day. Even if Iris had been purposely avoiding the actual death total, there was no way for there not be be fatalities. 

Two of those deaths had hit close to home.

Ronnie and Professor Stein had sacrificed themselves to help the Flash close the singularity. In doing so, Ronnie had lost his life and finally ending the FIRESTORM partnership for good.

For Iris, it was Eddie’s sacrifice that hit closest to home.

Iris scowled and downed the last of the wine she had been drinking, before pouring herself another glass. 

Eddie had quite literally taken one for the team. Her stupid, noble boyfriend had known that they had no way of stopping the Reverse Flash. Instead of letting Barry get killed, Eddie had shot himself; thus wiping any descendants from the timeline.

It all made Iris’s head hurt, and she tried to not think about it.

She finished off the wine, and checked her reflection in the mirror once more. She looked hot. Her dress was skin tight and fit her in all the right places. It also showed off more cleavage than was considered appropriate, but she didn’t care.

There was only one thing that could distract her from thoughts about Eddie and his death.

Alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol.

*

The queue for Passion was already twenty people deep by the time Sebastian stepped out of a cab in front of the black painted building, but he wasn’t surprised. 

Of the two night clubs he preferred, Passion was by far the most popular and mainstream club. Even straight people liked to end their nights there with a cocktail or two from the varied menu; Sebastian and Iris had once sampled everything on it in one night (they had regretted it afterward). 

In short, Passion couldn’t be more different from Sebastian’s _other_ favourite club, the Hung Highwayman, if it tried. 

No one went to the Highwayman for wholesome entertainment.

A quick glance up the length of the queue of Passion, confirmed what Sebastian has suspected; Iris still hadn’t arrived. He wasn’t surprised, though. If they weren’t sharing a cab, Iris was generally a little late. Sebastian had insisted he would rather wait for her than have his sister standing on the street where she could be attacked.

Iris had hit him for even suggesting that she couldn’t defend herself. But, even she had to admit that he had a point, and she had started letting Sebastian get there before her.

Slowly, Sebastian moved down the line, figuring that there was no point in letting it get any longer. Hopefully, but the time Iris arrived, he would be closer to the front, and he wouldn’t have to resort to sexual favours to get them in.

Not that he was against giving the door man a blow job. It wouldn’t be the first time, and the bouncer working that night was one of Sebastian’s favourites, but his jeans were new and had been too expensive to subject them to the floor.

“Allen!”

The speaker, a man close to his age, was waiting close to the end of the line. He was wearing a short leather coat, buttoned up to the chin, even though it was hot enough outside to not need one, and it was going to be even worse inside. 

Sebastian had no idea how the other man had learned his name, especially when he couldn’t return the favour. The shorter man had never offered it to him, and Sebastian had never asked; he didn’t need to know the name of the man who had been selling him drugs since he had starting going to clubs when he was back in Central for the holidays during High School.

Silently, Sebastian nodded his head in greeting, but didn’t stop as he continued joining the back of the queue.

The man glanced up and down the street, looking every bit the drug dealer he was, before turning back to Sebastian. “I’ve just got some high end merchandise, if you’re interested?” he offered, lowering his voice to keep their conversation private. 

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the offer. “How much is that going to cost me?” he asked sarcastically, unable to stop his lip curling up in a sneer. “Last we spoke, you wanted $50 for one pill, and it wasn’t even the good stuff.”

A slightly, and totally fake, bashful look appeared on the other man’s face. “What can I say, man? Times were hard.” When he saw that Sebastian didn’t believe a word that was coming out of his mouth, he continued with a new offer. “I’ll give you two pills for $25.”

It was tempting, Sebastian wasn’t about to deny that. But that didn’t mean he needed two pills. One would be more than enough to give him the buzz he needed, and he wasn’t stupid enough to take two pills in one night.

He wanted to get high. Not kill himself.

“I’ll give you $10 for one,” he countered.

A quick flash of irritation crossed the dealer’s face. It was gone almost as quickly as it appeared, but Sebastian had still spotted it. “$15.”

Sebastian shook his head. There was no way he was going to pay that much for a tiny ass pill. He would just get his buzz from alcohol and lots of hot guys inside. “No thanks.”

When he saw that he wasn’t going to get the price he wanted from Sebastian, the dealer huffed and reached into his pocket. “Fine,” he muttered. “I’ll take $10, but only because you’re a loyal customer and I’m a great humanitarian.”

The other man smirked when Sebastian rolled his eyes and discreetly handed him the required money, for which he received a tiny white pill in return.

Sebastian waited until the doorman glanced away, before tossing the pill into his mouth and swallowing it dry. It would take a while for the affects to kick in. Hopefully by the time they did, he and Iris would be inside the club and already on their way to being wasted.

*

Fixing Central City was slow work, and if there was one thing Barry didn’t like, it was going slow.

Ever since he’d woken up with super speed, he had been living his life as fast as possible. It had been so long since he had been forced to do things at a ‘normal’ speed, he had almost forgotten how infuriating being just like everyone else could be.

Sure, he still had his super speed and was still as fast as ever, but there was only so much he could do in one evening.

As much as he hated to admit it, he needed to sleep occasionally. 

It had been six months since he and Sebastian had defeated the Reverse Flash - Eobard Thawne - and the city was slowly getting back to normal. Thanks to Barry’s attempts to single handedly trying to fix the city.

Joe, Iris and Sebastian had all tried to convince him to let them help him, but he had flat out refused. They were humans and could only move at an average speed. 

He didn’t have the time to waste doing things at a normal speed. He needed to make amends across the city and the only way he could do that was to restore it to what it had been before.

Before Barry had let Eobard Thawne trick him into opening a worm hole to send him through time. That one decision had resulted in a singularity being created above the city and countless lives being lost.

It was unhealthy, and Barry knew that, but he knew the names of every person who had died that day. How else was he supposed to atone for what he did, if he didn’t know the names of the people who’s blood was on his hands.

By day, Barry fulfilled his duties as a CSI, but by night he turned into the city’s invisible handyman. He used his speed to zip around the city, repairing the buildings that been ruined in such a short space of time.

Everyone was giving him space to be on his own and come to terms with what had happened, which Barry would always be grateful for. Even Sebastian was leaving him alone, and only bugging him when it was absolutely necessary.

Even the meta-human’s in the city seemed to be operating some kind of truce. It had been months since Barry had needed to don his Flash mask to defend the city from a super villain.

He should really have known that it was only the calm before the storm.

*

It was too loud. Sebastian didn’t know or care what the sound was, but it was too loud and needed to go away.

He grunted when he felt someone kick him in the shoulder - _in the shoulder? -_ and heard Iris mutter, “Answer it!”

That was when he realised where the sound was coming from. His cell phone was ringing. 

Without opening his eyes, and only because he wanted to make the sound _stop,_ Sebastian rummaged around on the bed for the infernal thing. The ringing stopped before he could find it, and he let out a sigh of relief when the room was plunged into silence.

He let out a whine when the ringing started again. Seriously. Why was his phone so loud?

Eventually, he managed to find the phone (he had been sleeping on it). “What?” he whined, answering the call.

“Where the hell are you?” Joe’s voice demanded, sounding far too loud.

Sebastian flinched. “Stop shouting,” he complaining, pressing the heel of his hand against his eye. “I’m in bed. What’s the big deal? It’s still early.”

On the other end of the line, he heard Joe sigh. “Seb, it’s 10am,” his father pointed out, making green eyes fly open in surprise.

Something which Sebastian regretted when bright light hit his eyeballs. Why the hell hadn’t he closed the curtains last night?

“Crap,” he grumbled, stifling a yawn. “What time does the ceremony start?” His brain was still foggy from the night before, remembering specific details was going to be a little hazy for the rest of the day.

“One,” Joe answered. “Listen, Seb, I’m not just calling you to make sure you’re awake.” Of course he wasn’t, Sebastian thought to himself. There was always a catch. “I need you to make sure Barry actually shows.”

Had his head not been hurting so much, Sebastian would have snorted with laughter. “What makes you think he’s going to listen to me? He never has before.”

Joe made a sound of disagreement. “You’ve always been the one he refers to when Barry needs help. He needs it now more than ever. I need you to make him believe that…”

“None of this is his fault and he’s not a one man army,” Sebastian answered for him, trying desperately to not roll his eyes; he didn’t think his stomach could cope with that range of ocular movement. “I know. I know.”

He paused, before finally relenting. “Fine. I’ll give it a go. Just don’t be too surprised when he doesn’t turn up.”

Sebastian could hear the smile in Joe’s voice as he answered, “Thanks, kid.”

The phone fell to the floor as Sebastian tried to put it on the bed and missed, but he didn’t care. His head hurt too much to care.

Rolling over on the bed, he saw that he was right about being kicked in the shoulder. He had no idea how it had happened, but at some point during the night Sebastian had turned himself around so his feet were on the pillow next to Iris’s head.

“Urgh!” Iris yelled loudly when she suddenly found herself with one of Sebastian’s feet stuck under her nose. “Oh my god, you’re disgusting!” she exclaimed, gagging in response.

Sebastian just grinned. “Come on. If I have to suffer through Flash Day; so do you.” He remembered her telling him that she was the reporter assigned to the celebration. “Besides aren’t you supposed to be at work in like an hour?”

*

It had been _months_ since Sebastian had last stepped foot into STAR labs. The building had been almost destroyed during the singularity; the only part that had remained unaffected had been the containment cells.

Thank god.

Sebastian didn’t even want to think what would happen if the meta-human’s they’d caught in the last year had escaped. 

He wasn’t stupid, he knew exactly how much work Barry had done to repair the city; proof of that was evident as Sebastian made his way from Iris’s apartment, to STAR labs.

Stepping into the building, Sebastian paused for a second. Barry was wearing the same clothes he had been wearing to work the day before. He didn’t look like he’d slept yet.

“Humans have this weird thing they need,” Sebastian said, finally moving from where he had been standing and stepping into what had been the cortex of STAR labs. “It’s called ‘sleep’, maybe you’ve heard of it.”

Across the room, Barry didn’t even turn around as he continued measuring a piece of wood. “I have too much to do,” he muttered, reaching for a handsaw.

Crossing the room, Sebastian placed his hand on the saw, stopping his brother from picking it up. When Barry turned his head to glare at him, Sebastian raised an eyebrow but didn’t back down from the challenge. 

“What do you want, Sebastian?” Barry finally asked when he realised his brother wasn’t going to leave him alone anytime soon. 

Sebastian sighed. “Joe sent me here to remind you about the Flash Day celebration,” he answered.

Barry snorted and rolled his eyes, shaking Sebastian’s hand away. “There’s nothing to celebrate.”

Sebastian took a deep breath, forcing himself to not lash out at his twin. They had been having the same argument on a semi-regular basis since they had been separated by the singularity. 

Regardless of how much time passed and how many people told him so, Barry was adamant that what happened to the city was his fault. He needed to fix it and, if the city really knew how involved he had been during the whole thing, they wouldn’t be so eager to reward him for ‘saving their lives’.

“I tried to tell Joe that you wouldn’t agree to it,” Sebastian retorted, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at his brother. “I guess he just has more faith in you than I do. Obviously he doesn’t know you’re still really just a scared little boy at heart. I’ll let you get back to your hiding.”

Barry whirled around at his words. He glared at Sebastian. “I am not hiding,” he hissed. When Sebastian snorted, he added, “I am trying to fix this city as best as I can, which is more than you can say.”

Sebastian’s jaw fell open in surprise, but Barry wasn’t finished. “What have you been doing lately, Seb? Besides getting high and drunk in every gay bar in Central City, I mean. Are there any guys left in the city that you haven’t screwed?” 

There was silence between them for a moment, before Sebastian managed to find his voice again. “Fuck you,” he muttered. “You know, I was going to point out that you don’t have to do all of this alone. You had a lot of people to help you before - fuck, you even managed to convince _me_ that I was hero. None of them had powers and they were still useful.”

A slightly bashful look crossed Barry’s face, but Sebastian didn’t care. He was over his brother’s martyr routine. He wasn’t the only one going through shit, and Sebastian was sick to death of putting up with it from the speedster. 

“The ceremony starts at one,” Sebastian told Barry. “Personally, I don’t care if you turn up or not. Stay here and wallow in your self pity. Prove to the city how stupid they were to think that the Flash was actually a hero.”

He didn’t wait to hear whatever counter argument Barry had to his words. His brother’s self-righteous attitude had pissed Sebastian off plenty over the last six months. He didn’t want to hear whatever garbage would come from his mouth now.

At least they were in separate bodies now. Sebastian was sure he would actually go crazy if he had to see his twin every day. Either that or he’d murder someone.

Somedays even he wasn’t sure which was more likely.

***

Five and a Half Months Ago

_There was so much paperwork. Too much. It was the twenty first century; surely everything should be paperless by now?_

_It was almost enough to make him wish that he and Barry were still sharing the same body._

_Almost._

_He and Barry had been separate from each other for almost three weeks now. For Sebastian it felt both weird and oddly liberating. Somehow this felt different to how it had when Blackout had forced them apart. Maybe it was because Barry had kept the super speed, while Sebastian remained as human as ever; he really had no idea._

_Hell, he couldn’t even ask Barry what he thought about being on his own again. His brother had been avoiding them all; choosing to spend his time at work and restoring the city single handedly. He’d even moved out of Joe’s house; choosing to spend his nights as STAR labs when he did actually sleep._

_Forcing thoughts of his brother to the side - thinking about Barry’s self righteous attitude, only served to piss Sebastian off, anyway - Sebastian forced himself to focus on the here and now._

_Unfortunately, the here and now meant a lot of paperwork. And he meant, a lot._

_“Do I have to fill all these in?” Sebastian whined, looking across the table at Iris and Joe._

_Iris chuckled and nodded her head. “If you want to officially exist, yes. Cisco fabricated the majority of a past for you, but there are some things you have to do by hand.” She rifled through the papers, and handed him one of them._

_“This isn’t everything?” he most definitely didn’t shriek, suddenly extremely grateful for Cisco. He couldn’t imagine filling even more stuff out by hand._

_Joe laughed and handed him a pen. “The quicker you stop complaining, the quicker you’ll get through them,” he pointed out._

_Sebastian huffed and grabbed the pen, clicking it on and hovering it over the signature box. He paused when he felt their eyes on him, and looked up in confusion. “What?” he asked, self-conscious all of a sudden._

_“You’re a leftie,” Iris observed, amazement lacing her voice as she nodded to the hand he was holding the pen with._

_He followed her gaze and realised that she was right. Without thinking about it, he had started writing with his left hand; rather than the right one he was used to Barry using. “Huh,” he murmured. “That’s weird.”_

_Both Joe and Iris nodded, surprise clearly written all over their faces. Over the last few days, there were a lot of things Sebastian had learnt about himself, that he hadn’t even thought about before. Which hand he wrote with had never entered his mind._

_It was yet another way he was different from Barry._

***

“Earth to Sebastian!”

Sebastian started in surprise at the loud shout and he turned to face his verbal attacker. “Jeez, dude!” he complained. “You don’t have to shout.”

Beside him, Cisco rolled his eyes. “I said your name, like, five times.”

“Oh,” Sebastian murmured, a light blush colouring his cheeks. “Sorry. I was just thinking.” He didn’t say what he was thinking about. He generally didn’t like to admit that being separated from Barry was weirder for Sebastian than he had thought. They had shared a body for so long, it felt strange to not have the other man’s presence inside his mind.

Cisco looked like he wanted to know what Sebastian had been thinking about, but he seemed to quickly think better of it. “Do you really think he’s not going to show?”

Sebastian shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t care if he does or not,” he muttered, earning a raised eyebrow from Cisco. “I’m not his babysitter.”

“Dude, you’re his _twin_ ,” Cisco insisted. “You’re supposed to be supportive of him.”

The other man rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, I can’t support him being when he’s being a brat who won’t listen to anyone else.”

Cisco didn’t get chance to comment further on Sebastian’s opinion of his brother when Joe approached them.

“Did you bring the Boot?” the policer officer asked, addressing Cisco.

The engineer looked offended for a second, before he couldn’t hold it any longer and he grinned at Joe. “Of course I did,” he stated. Sebastian watched curiously as Cisco pulled back the cover on a machine he hadn’t even been paying attention to before.

“What is that?” Sebastian asked when neither of the others looked like they were going to explain it to him.

A proud smile spread across Cisco’s face and he caressed the gun with one hand. “A gun I invented to stop meta-humans getting away from us,” he informed the other man.

“You expecting trouble?” Sebastian asked in response. Even as he spoke, he knew it was a stupid question. Just looking around would have given him the answer to his question. Almost every police officer was in the park or around the perimeter. There were metal and meta-human detectors at every entrance. CCPD were clearly prepared should anything happen. 

Hell, even Sebastian had caught in the detectors on his way into the park. He _knew_ there was nothing metal in his pockets, but the machine had still gone off. One of the cops had recognised him as being Joe’s kid, so he had been let through with no questions, but it had still been irritating.

Joe laughed and clapped Sebastian on the shoulder. “This is Central City, kid,” he pointed out. “Not expecting trouble is a recipe for disaster. A cop’s always prepared.”

Beside him, Cisco hummed in agreement. “Be prepared. Isn’t that like their motto or something?”

Sebastian laughed and rolled his eyes. “That’s the boy scouts, Cisco,” he corrected his friend.

An excited murmur rippled through the crowd and the three of them turned to see the mayor - whose name Sebastian figured he should probably know, but didn’t - walk across the stage. In the centre, there was a lectern and a microphone. 

“Good morning, Central City,” the mayor greeted loudly, making the microphone feed back horribly. 

Half of the crowd answered him with an uncaring cheer, while the rest of the crowd just stared at him with blank expressions. He wasn’t who they were there to see.

They wanted the Flash, not some elected official. Sebastian almost felt bad for them because there was no way Barry was going to turn up. 

When they mayor realised they weren’t interested in him, he cleared his throat awkwardly. “A year ago, our world changed. Our city became ground zero for some pretty weird stuff.”

Sebastian let out a sharp laugh, drawing a few glares from the surrounding people. Calling the things that had happened over the last year pretty weird, was grossly underestimating things in his opinion. 

Beside him, Joe glared at him and elbowed Sebastian in the ribs to keep him quiet. 

“We got a new breed of criminal,” the mayor continued oblivious to Sebastian’s amusement. “Men and women who defied not only our laws, but the laws of physics and reason.” He paused for a breath. “But we got something else, too.”

The mayor grinned like a little boy on Christmas morning. He was clearly trying to stir the crowd up into an excited frenzy. From looking at their faces, Sebastian could tell that they just wanted him to get on with it.

“We got the Flash.”

As soon as the mayor said the name of their favourite superhero, the crowd around them cheered loud, making Sebastian wince; his hangover really wasn’t ready for that level of noise. 

“The Flash doesn’t just protect us,” the mayor explained when the cheers died down, “he restores hope where it was lost.” He reached under the microphone and pulled out a mounted gold-plated key. “That’s why I’m honoured to present this key to the man who saved Central City. The Flash.”

Again, the crowd went wild and everyone started looking around expectantly. But, just like Sebastian had expected, the Scarlet Speedster was no where to be seen.

“I love being right,” Sebastian stated, a smug smile spreading across his face. 

Joe glared at him. “I thought you were going to talk to him.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “I did. Have you ever tried actually talking to him? God, he’s a nightmare.”

Joe raised an eyebrow but before he could say whatever retort was on the tip of his tongue, there was a familiar whooshing sound, and the crowd erupted in an even louder cheer than before.

They both looked up in surprise and, sure enough, skidding to a stop in the centre of the stage was the very person they had been talking about.

“Apparently I _did_ manage to get through to him,” Sebastian muttered, speaking more to himself than to Joe as he took in the sight of his brother.

Even from where they were standing, it was impossible to not see how uncomfortable Barry was at being the centre of everyone’s attention. Sure, they couldn’t see his face under the mask, but every person around him was still looking at him expectantly. 

The Flash was their hero. The one they were there to see.

Of course, they were in Central City, so nothing was ever as simple as it should be. As soon as Barry’s fingers had brushed the key that was being handed to him by the mayor, a loud scream cut through the crowd.

Cisco and Joe immediately sprung into action, but Sebastian couldn’t move from his spot. All he could do was watch as a guy, not much bigger than Sebastian, picked up a food cart and threw it some fifty feet across the park, aiming straight for the Mayor and the Flash.

“Shit,” Sebastian swore to himself. “So much for the meta-human drought.”

***

Barry’s head was pounding. 

It was so loud he could barely hear himself think over the rushing of blood in his brain. He’d already been suffering from a migraine since the meta-human attack at the ceremony.

A visit from Harrison Wells’s attorney certainly hadn’t helped, either.

Barry had barely gotten back to his lab at CCPD, when the sharply dressed man had stepped through the door. Barry’s first instinct had been to panic and refer to Sebastian, letting his brother handle the unexpected encounter.

It had only been when he’d not received a response that he remembered Sebastian was no longer inside his mind.

Barry had been forced to deal with the attorney on his own.

Apparently, Wells - Thawne - had made a will before he had planned to return home. Barry had no idea why someone who wasn’t even from this timeline, and shouldn’t care about anything from this century, would do such a thing, but he had and apparently, Barry was the beneficiary of said will.

Or, rather he would be, as soon as he watched the stupid video the attorney had left for him.

Well, Barry wasn’t going to do it. He didn’t think he _could_ watch the video. Every time he even thought about Harrison Wells - Eobard Thawne - he wanted to hide away from the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, without Sebastian inside his mind, that wasn’t an option for Barry.

He had to be an adult and stand up to his problems on his own, for one of the first times in his life. Seriously, been an adult sucked.

Barry was startled out of his thoughts by a shrill beeping sound. Someone had gained unauthorised access to the STAR Labs site; a site Barry had closed down himself and declared off limits.

Without thinking twice about what he was doing, Barry sped from his lab at the police station and headed straight STAR labs.

Skidding to a stop in the centre of the cortex, Barry was surprised to see the entire team - his friends - standing behind the desk, talking intently about their latest meta-human attack.

“What are you guys doing here?” Barry asked.

Iris broke away from their conversation for long enough to reply, “Working,” before she turned back to Stein and Cisco.

Barry sighed and glanced around the room. Joe and Sebastian were sitting at a different workstation, going over something Barry couldn’t see from where he was standing. Occasionally, Joe would point to something on the screen and Sebastian would shake his head.

He needed to do something. Barry had thought he’d managed to lock them out of the building. Obviously he had been wrong and he needed to take a more direct approach.

“Look, guys,” he began, feeling uncomfortable at telling his friends what to do, but knowing that he needed to learn how to voice his true feelings to someone other than his brother. “I don’t want any of you here right now.”

From where he was sitting across the room, Sebastian snorted with laughter and Barry looked up to see his twin rolling his eyes. “Tough,” he replied bluntly.

Joe threw Sebastian a reproachful look, before the police officer turned to face Barry. “You need your partners, Bar. You need your _friends_.”

“Barry,” Iris said, moving out from behind the desk and coming to a stop in front of the speedster. “Everyone in this room cares about you.” Sebastian made a noise that sounded like he was going to disagree, but Iris cut him off. “Even Seb, despite what he says. But we also care about the city. I know you’re going through a lot right now, but…”

“You need to suck it up, Princess,” Sebastian cut through Iris’s words, earning himself a glare from everyone else in the room. “We’ve all been through shit this past six months, but you don’t see us shutting everyone out who actually gives a damn.”

Sebastian let out a yelp when Joe hit him on the back of the head. “What your brother is trying to say - and failing miserably at - is that we _all_ want to make a difference. That means us _all_ fighting meta-humans _and_ working with the Flash.”

Cisco’s computer beeped as it finished scanning the city, cutting through whatever response Barry had been about to give. “Got him!” Cisco exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face. “He’s at a hazardous waste reclamation plant just outside the city.”

“Great, guys,” Barry said, trying to steer the conversation back to the most pressing matter; their presence in the lab. “You can all go now.”

“Barry,” Joe began, making Barry wince internally. The police officer was using the tone he usually reserved for Sebastian when he was doing something Joe _knew_ would land him and Barry in hot water. “You need to let Cisco and Stein figure out a way to stop this guy.”

Barry shook his head. He may have been a push over in the past, but this time he standing his ground. He was right; the others would see that in the end. “No, I don’t,” he argued. 

Without another word, Barry used his powers to speed grab his suit and speed out of the cortex.

“He’s left his comm behind,” Cisco murmured after Barry had left, plucking the device from the desk. “He’s on his own.”

Sebastian smirked and leant back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “Is this the point where I get to say ‘I told you so’?” he asked.

Joe just hit him on the back of the head again.

*

It wasn’t the first time Sebastian had been stood over an unconscious Barry, but that didn’t make it any less eerie.

Over the last six months, Sebastian had been forced to come to terms with being separated from his brother for the first time in his life (not counting their brief encounter with Blackout). 

Even though both he and Barry had wished they were their own people at various times throughout their lives, actually having that wish was something neither of them had been prepared for.

When they had realised this separation was permanent - after dozens of tests and attempts to reverse their situation - Sebastian had been more than ready to dive straight back into team Flash. He was positive that, even though Barry kept the super speed this time around, Sebastian could still be a useful asset to the team.

Of course, Barry had been of a different mindset and it had almost gotten the stubborn bastard killed.

His brother had managed to make it back to STAR labs, before passing out from the injuries Rothstein had inflicted on him. It hadn’t taken long for the others to patch Barry up, but he had yet to wake up.

Sebastian sighed and leant on the end of Barry’s bed, assessing the meta-human’s injuries. When he had first arrived back at STAR labs, it had been almost impossible to recognise him - even for Sebastian who saw his brother’s face looking back at him from every mirror.

Barry’s enhanced healing had fixed a lot of the injuries, but his face was still bloody and swollen. Sebastian knew from experience that in less than an hour, it would look like nothing had ever happened - even if Barry would still be aching for a few days.

As Sebastian continued staring at his brother, the strangest thing happened. The longer he looked at Barry’s face, the quicker the bruises seemed to fade. In less than a minute, all Barry’s external injuries had disappeared and his twin was looking as handsome as usual (hey, it was Sebastian’s face as well; of course he was handsome).

_What the hell?_

Sebastian jumped in surprise when he felt a hand land on his shoulder. He turned quickly to see Joe standing beside him, wearing a concerned expression on his face; concern that was aimed at him, not Barry.

“You okay?” Joe asked.

The younger man glanced back at Barry before replying. To his surprise, and mounting confusion, Barry looked just as beaten up as he had before. Nothing had changed. 

Well, nothing except Sebastian losing his sanity, at least.

“Yeah,” Sebastian eventually answered, running a hand over his face, before glancing back at Barry. Nothing. The injuries were still there.

Joe pursed his lips, clearly not believing a word his son was saying. “Listen, why don’t you go home and get some rest. I can keep an eye on him for the night.”

Sebastian hesitated for a second, before his stomach growled in a reminder that he hadn’t eaten yet today. Reluctantly, he agreed and said his goodbyes to Joe. At the door, he paused and glanced back at Barry, before leaving the room completely.

*

Joe was almost an hour into his vigil at Barry’s beside, when his son finally stirred, or rather jolted awake.

“Easy,” the police officer soothed, placing his hand on Barry’s shoulder to make sure he stayed on the bed. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

The sound of his voice seemed to calm Barry, and it wasn’t long before he slumped back and turned his head to face Joe. “Where is everyone?” Barry croaked, clearly instinctively knowing there was no one else around.

“I sent them home,” Joe answered. “I figured you wouldn’t want an audience when you came to.”

Barry scoffed and rolled his eyes in a matter that was so _Sebastian_ like it was actually quite frightening. “Thanks,” he muttered.

Over the last few months, Joe had tried his hardest to not lecture Barry about his choices. He had tried to understand what his son was going through, and tried to give him the space to come to terms with the consequences of his actions. 

He saw now that the hands off approach clearly wasn’t going to work for Barry. The CSI was so used to having Sebastian around to make all the tough choices for him, that Joe had forgotten he was likely still a scared little boy who felt completely out of his depth.

No, the kid gloves were off now. It was time to tell Barry the truth, no matter how painful that was for him.

“The others were right,” Joe said, trying to keep his voice neutral and not make it obvious he was lecturing Barry. “You’re not gonna do this anymore.” Barry looked like he wanted to argue, but couldn’t find the energy to form the words. Instead, he remained silent on the bed as he listened to what Joe was saying.

“For the last six months, I’ve given you your space to work all this out, and come back to us,” Joe continued. “But today proved that you’d rather just get yourself killed.”

Barry snorted and rolled his eyes. “It’s better than getting my friends killed,” he muttered, averting his eyes from Joe’s gaze.

Joe sighed. “Did it ever occur to you to wonder what would happen to _them_ if you were the one killed instead?” he asked, before continuing without giving Barry a chance to reply. “You want me to tell you that it wasn’t your fault? I can’t. It was.”

Barry’s eyes narrowed, but Joe wasn’t done. “Guess what? You weren’t the only person making decisions that day. All the rest of us were there too. Eddie and Ronnie; they chose to help you stop Wells, and stop that…” He trailed, not remembering what the huge black hole had been called.

“Singularity,” Barry filled in for him wearily.

“Yeah, that,” Joe agreed. “It’s on all of us, Barry. Stop hogging all the blame and regret. We gotta live with it. Move on.”

Tears were freely streaming down Barry’s face and Joe felt bad for his son, but they were words he needed to hear. Words that should have been said a long time ago. 

“I don’t know what to do,” Barry eventually confessed.

Joe smiled and reached over, putting his hand on Barry’s arm. “I know you’ve been rebuilding Central City at night,” he said softly. “But that’s just bricks and paint. Maybe you should start trying to rebuild things that _really_ matter?”

“You mean apologise to Sebastian.”

The police officer nodded his head. “He’s the only person who’s been there for you every day of your life, Bar,” he reminded his son. “You’re not the only one who’s going through a tough time, right now.”

Joe sighed. “You know he’ll never admit it, but I think Seb needs you just as much as you need him, right now.”

*

When Barry and Sebastian had separated, the speedster had moved out of Joe’s house, while Sebastian had stayed behind. Even though he had originally put up a fight when Barry had wanted to go back, Sebastian loved living back with Joe.

After Joe had kicked him out of STAR labs, Sebastian had returned home to an empty house.

His mind was reeling. No matter how hard he tired, he couldn’t work out what had happened back at Barry’s bedside.

Every time Sebastian had a theory about what he had seen, he managed to convince himself how ridiculous the idea was.

All he did know, was that he had been standing beside his brother, wishing that the bruises and injuries would fade. Then, before his eyes, they had slowly started to fade until Barry had been looking as good as ever.

Just like he had imagined.

Sebastian came to a stop in the centre of his bedroom where he had been pacing, looking down at his hands. He didn’t know what he expected to see, but he didn’t look any different from usual.

He turned when he heard a knock on the open door. 

Barry was standing in the doorway. The bruises had now faded completely and he was looking healthier than Sebastian had seen him for a long time.

Sebastian couldn’t help let out a relieved breath at the sight of him. 

“Hey,” Barry greeted softly when he saw that he now had his twin’s attention.

Sebastian didn’t bother to exchange pleasantries with Barry. Honestly, after how the speedster had treated them all earlier, he barely wanted to be in the same room as the other man. Instead, he asked, “Something wrong?”

Barry frowned as though he couldn’t work out why Sebastian was being unintentionally cold with him, and fidgeted with the sleeve of his jacket. “I wanted to apologise,” he eventually admitted.

The younger of the twins - Joe and Iris had decided that Sebastian would have been born after Barry - raised an eyebrow and sat down on his bed. “I’m listening,” he said evenly.

Without waiting for an invitation, Barry stepped into the room and sat down on the edge of Sebastian’s bed beside his brother.

“I’m a dick,” Barry said bluntly, making Sebastian laugh loudly in surprise. He had never thought the other man would just come right out and say it. “I know I’ve been treating everyone like they don’t matter to me; you especially.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “You can say that again,” he murmured. 

The corners of Barry’s mouth turned up in a small smile, that Sebastian couldn’t help returning with one of his own. It felt like it had been a long time since he had seen the meta-human smile like that.

“I don’t have an excuse,” Barry continued. “Not really. I’m scared, Seb,” he whispered, pulling his gaze away from his twin’s and looking down at the bedspread beneath him.

Sebastian frowned. “Of what?” he asked. He wasn’t surprised that Barry was admitting to being afraid; he had spent most of their lives being afraid of one thing or another. But he couldn’t work out what Barry could be afraid of that would cause him to push everyone away.

Barry lifted his head and glared lightly at his twin. “Losing you, idiot,” he retorted with a shake of his head. “You’re not a meta anymore, Seb. You don’t have powers anymore.”

The younger of the twins briefly thought about telling Barry what had happened back at STAR labs, but he quickly convinced himself not to. He didn’t know how he was supposed to tell Barry about something, when even _he_ didn’t know what was happening to him.

No, whatever was going on, Barry could stay in the dark until Sebastian knew for certain.

“I know, that,” Sebastian argued. “But, Bar, that’s what we’ve all been trying to tell you for months. There’s more to being Team Flash than just being a meta.”

Barry pursed his lips; he looked like he was trying to not argue with Sebastian again, which made the other man grin. He was actually more comfortable when they were bickering with each other. They’d spent most of their lives acting like an old married couple; it actually kinda freaked Sebastian out when they were getting along.

“Trust me, Joe has yelled at me enough to finally get it through my head,” Barry muttered. “I’m not going to fight you on this anymore, Seb. I need your help at STAR labs, if you’re still interested?”

Sebastian grinned. “I suppose I could help you out,” he replied, continuing to act as though he hadn’t already decided to agree to Barry’s offer. “It’s not like I have anything better to do in between my hectic work schedule.”

Barry laughed and rolled his eyes. “I’m sure your secretary duties at the station will survive you slipping away every now and then.”

The other man pretended to look affronted at Barry’s words. “How dare you? We prefer the term ‘receptionist’.” He laughed and shrugged away from Barry when he tried to hit him.

It was nice to spend the evening with Barry, Sebastian thought later that night. They had spent the evening catching up on everything they had missed. Not living inside each other’s heads meant that there was a lot of things they didn’t know the other had been through recently; where they would normally have been front and centre for the actual action.

Sebastian didn’t even complain when Barry lectured him on the dangers of taking drugs in the clubs and sleeping with random strangers.

They were finally back to being the brothers they always had been, Sebastian would take a bit of coddling from Barry if it meant the speedster was talking to him again.

*

Barry felt like he was vibrating; he was so nervous he couldn’t see straight.

He and Sebastian had been waiting outside of Iron Heights prison for almost thirty minutes, and there was still no sign of the doors being opened. 

What if the lawyers had been wrong? What if things weren’t going to go as smoothly as they had all anticipated? His mind kept running through a million and one possibilities, and he was positive that he was slowly freaking out.

Beside him, Sebastian looked like the perfect picture of calm. Any other people would have said he was unfazed by the current events. But Barry knew him better; he knew his brother better than anyone else. Even Iris. Maybe even better than he knew himself sometimes.

Sebastian was just as terrified as Barry was. But he would never admit it to anyone. 

Barry would be willing to bet that the same thoughts which had been running through _his_ head, had been running through his twin’s.

From the prison, there was a loud beeping and the large gates they had been staring at, slowly slid open.

Allowing Henry Allen to step into the free world for the first time in almost fifteen years.

Barry heard Sebastian draw in a breath and he turned to look at his twin. Sebastian looked like he was going to throw up. “Are you okay?” he whispered, placing his hand on the other man’s arm.

Sebastian took another deep breath and nodded his head. “Yeah,” he replied. “It’s just… This is the first time dad has met me, technically.”

The CSI blinked in surprise. He hadn’t thought about that. Even if his dad had always known about Sebastian’s existence, they had never officially been introduced to each other and Henry had never actually met his youngest son since Sebastian and Barry had separated.

Neither of them had much longer to dwell on their thoughts as Henry got closer to them. Their dad looked much better in civilian clothes, Barry thought to himself. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he actually looked healthier than he had for a long time.

Being a free man was already doing wonders for Henry’s health.

“Hey, Slugger,” Henry greeted, offering Barry a smile which was eagerly returned, before turning his attention to Sebastian. “Hello, Sebastian,” Henry murmured. If possible, his smile actually got brighter.

Sebastian let out a sound which Barry could only describe as a whimper, before he threw himself at Henry (something he would later deny ever doing, Barry was sure of it). “Dad,” he whispered, pressing his face against Henry’s neck and breathing in.

Henry’s eyes fluttered closed as he wrapped his own arms around Sebastian and held him close. “It’s good to see you, son.” He lifted his gaze and met Barry’s eyes with his own. “It’s good to see you both.”

His words seemed to remind Sebastian that Barry was there as well, and he pulled away from Henry as quickly as he had thrown himself at their dad. Barry couldn’t say for certain, but he was positive he even caught Sebastian swipe at his eyes.

Not that he would ever say anything to his brother. He valued his life too much to do that.

“Hey, Dad,” Barry greeted, hugging Henry now that Sebastian had detached himself from him. “Sorry it took so long to get you out of there.” He offered the older man a grin, which was readily returned.

Henry chuckled. “It’s not a problem, son. I know you - both of you - always keep your promises.” He flashed a grin in Sebastian’s direction, making the younger man preen under the attention.

He drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Being in the fresh air is going to take some getting used to.”

Sebastian laughed lightly in response. “I’ll bet.”

Barry smiled. “Dad, I was thinking, you can spend the night at my apartment, then in the morning we can start looking for places that you’d like.” He grinned over at Sebastian. “You can even come work with us at STAR labs,” he added, turning back to Henry.

A look of uncertainty suddenly spread across Henry’s face. “I don’t know. I mean…”

“What’s wrong?” Barry asked, immediately picking up on the change to their dad’s mood. “Are you okay?”

The corners of Henry’s mouth turned down, but before he could answer, Sebastian cut in for him. “He’s not planning on sticking around, Bar,” his twin stated.

Horror flooded through Barry and he shook his head. He knew his mouth was opening and closing like a fish, but he couldn’t help it. He glanced back at Henry and inhaled sharply when he saw the look on his face.

Sebastian was right. Henry was leaving him. Them. Again.

“I’m sorry, Barry,” Henry whispered, looking the perfect image of contrite. “I think this is the best thing for everyone.”

Barry’s eyes widened and he couldn’t help scoffing in a very Sebastian-like manner. “I - _we_ \- have fought so hard to get you out of prison, and this is how you thank us?” he spat angrily. Sebastian glanced at him in surprise, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

Clearly Sebastian knew that Barry was not in the mood to be messed with right then.

Henry winced at his eldest son’s anger. “I’m sorry, son,” he apologised. “But, with me here, can you honestly tell me you can become everything you’re supposed to be?” He glanced over at Sebastian, offering him an apologetic smile.

Beside him, Sebastian remained silent but Barry didn’t miss the way his brother moved a fraction closer to him. 

“You’re the only family we have,” Barry stated lowly.

Henry offered him a sad smile. “You don’t need me,” he argued, flicking his eyes between Barry and Sebastian. “You never did. All either of you has ever needed has been each other.”

He looked over at Sebastian. “You have no idea how happy it makes me to see you as your own person, Sebastian,” Henry said, reaching and placing a hand on Sebastian’s arm.

From where he was standing, to Barry it looked like Sebastian wanted nothing more than to shrug the hand off his body. 

“Your mom would have been proud of you. Both of you,” he added, turning his attention back to Barry. “I know I am.”

Barry swallowed. The anger he had been previously feeling had disappeared and had now been replaced with the initial fear and sadness he had felt originally. “Where are you going to go?” he asked.

Henry shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I always wanted to visit Midway City,” he mused, before shrugging again. “Who knows? We’ll see where my feet end up taking me.”

“You could always stay,” Barry whispered, trying one last ditch attempt to convince their dad to stay in Central. With them.

Silently, Henry took Barry’s hands in his and squeezed tightly. “I promise you, Bar,” he said, “when you need me - if either of you need me - I will be here. But, for now at least, Central City doesn’t need you to be Henry Allen’s sons.”

He released one of Barry’s hands and reached for Sebastian’s, which the younger twin grudgingly let him take. “It needs you to be team Flash. You can’t be that if you’re constantly worrying about me.”

Barry swallowed around the lump in his throat, and blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision which was suddenly watery. “At least let us give you a ride,” he murmured, nodding over to Iris’ car which they had borrowed; Barry had no use for one, and Sebastian was still trying to decide if he wanted one of his own, or a motorcycle.

“It’s okay, Slugger,” Henry assured him, finally releasing both their hands. “I think I’m going to walk; feel the breeze on my face after all this time.” He placed a hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “I love you, son.”

“I love both of you,” he added, turning back to Barry.

He offered them both one final smile, before Henry began to walk away from them. Leaving them alone again.

As Henry’s figure grew smaller as he headed further away from them, Barry couldn’t hold back his tears any longer. He drew a deep breath, and couldn’t stop the sob from escaping.

Sebastian tore his eyes away from Henry’s departing figure, and turned to face his twin. Wordlessly, he reached out and pulled Barry into his arms, holding him tightly as he sobbed.

Neither of them spoke as they tried to process what had just happened. They simply sought comfort in each other. 

The way they always had.

Barry and Sebastian. The only ones who would never let the other down, no matter what crap they put each other through.

*


	2. Flash Of Two Worlds

As a teenager, Sebastian had never considered what he wanted to be when he grew up.

He had always known that, whatever career path they ended up following, would be chosen by Barry, and Sebastian was going to have very little say in the matter.

Even when they had enrolled at Dalton Academy and then Gotham University, Sebastian’s likes had taken a back seat to Barry’s preferences. Of course, Barry had relented and allowed Sebastian some of his own pleasures.

When they had separated, Joe had suggested that it might be worth Sebastian heading back to college to get his own degree. For a brief moment, Sebastian had actually considered it. He had always adored the performing arts; for as long as he could remember, he had been persuading Barry to let him sing at every available opportunity.

But he was also a realist. 

He knew how hard it was for people to succeed in the entertainment industry; some of the people he had known in high school were _still_ trying to make it more than ten years after graduating.

In the end, Sebastian had decided what he had really known all along; school had never been for him, and there was no way he wanted to subject himself to the institute more than he already had.

With help from Cisco, Sebastian had put together a resume. Most of the details on it were accurate; at least the dates and schools were. He’d needed to lie about a few tiny details - namely the classes he had taken and the grades he’d gotten. Sebastian hadn’t seen the point in lying, but Cisco had pointed out that it would look weird if both he and Barry had achieved the same level of success academically.

Sebastian had thought that Cisco was being paranoid for no reason, but even he had to admit that it was best to be safe than sorry. The last thing any of them wanted was for someone to actually dig into his past and realise that, before six months ago, Sebastian Joseph Allen hadn’t existed.

All the hard work had paid off pretty quickly when Sebastian applied for, and was offered, a receptionist job at the police station. Sebastian had immediately assumed that Joe had been involved in the hiring process, but the officer had sworn on the phone book (Sebastian hadn’t had a bible at the ready) that he’d had no influence whatsoever.

Working alongside his brother and Joe was better than Sebastian had ever thought it would be. He enjoyed having his own money for a change (instead of having to share everything with Barry), and it was nice to work alongside people who put their lives in danger every day to protect people.

The only downside was that he had to deal with people mistaking him as Barry on an almost hourly basis. Joe was the only one who seemed to be able to tell the difference. Personally, Sebastian couldn’t see why people were getting so confused.

Like he would wear anything in Barry’s closet voluntarily. Honestly no-one outside a farm should wear that much plaid.

“Hey,” Joe greeted, stepping out of the elevator and approaching the front desk where Sebastian was already sitting, waiting to begin his day.

Sebastian returned the smile, and gratefully accepted the coffee his father was offering him. “Thanks,” he replied, breathing deeply and inhaling the scent. 

Another perk of the job? Free coffee; whenever Joe bought one for himself, he grabbed one for both Barry and Sebastian.

“Is Bar in his lab?” Joe asked.

Sebastian winced and shook his head. “Singh wanted to talk to him,” he stated, his green eyes flickering over to the closed door of the Captain’s office.

Joe mirrored Sebastian’s grimace. “That can’t be good.”

The younger man couldn’t help but agree. From the moment Barry had been hired as a forensic assistant, Sebastian and Singh had been butting heads with each other. Sebastian didn’t like the way Singh insisted on sticking his nose into things that (in Sebastian’s opinion) didn’t have anything to do with him. Singh didn’t like that Sebastian was so argumentative and insisted on working solo.

As they watched, the door to Singh’s office opened and Barry stepped out, looking dazed. Another man, a stranger Sebastian didn’t recognise followed him. They paused outside the door, when the other man shook Barry’s hand and they parted ways. 

It all looked very serious.

“Uh oh,” Joe murmured. “That doesn’t look good. You okay, Kid?” he asked as Barry approached them; the dazed expression never leaving his face as he studied Barry.

Barry started in surprise, clearly only just realising that they were both watching him so closely. “What?” he replied, before rolling his eyes at himself. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just… surprised.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Good surprised, or bad?” he pressed his twin for more information.

A slightly unsure expression crossed his face and Barry shrugged a shoulder. “Both?” When they looked at him quizzically, he seemed to take pity on them and explained further. “Did I tell you that this attorney has been hounding me for weeks?”

Dread flooded Sebastian’s body as he shook his head. Joe looked as alarmed as he felt.

“It’s something to do with Wells’ will,” Barry explained as though it wasn’t a big deal that an attorney had been trying to speak to him for such a long period of time. “I forgot to call him back, so he apparently decided to ambush me while I’m at work.”

Sebastian scowled. “Will you stop beating around the bush, and just tell us what he told you?” he snapped, finally losing the last of his patience; not that he had much to start with.

Barry glared at him lightly, but there was no malice in his eyes. “Wells - Eobard - left everything to me in his will.”

Both Joe and Sebastian’s eyes widened in surprise. “What?” Joe exclaimed, almost spilling his coffee down his shirt.

“Yeah,” Barry breathed with a nod of his head. “Apparently that confession wasn’t the only thing he left me. For some reason, Wells decided I was going to be the only beneficiary to his will. Everything he owned is mine now. His house, all his money, STAR Labs.”

Sebastian whistled. “Wow,” he breathed. “I told you he didn’t like me,” he pointed out. “The bastard didn’t leave me anything, I notice.”

Barry snorted, looking more relaxed than he had since leaving Singh’s office, and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like I’m accepting any of it, Seb,” Barry retorted.

Joe frowned. “Why the hell not?” he questioned.

The CSI raised an eyebrow. “I can’t accept anything from him. After what he did - After all the people he killed,” he hissed, lowering his voice to make sure no one would overhear him, “it’s blood money, Joe!”

The police officer nodded his head. “I know it’s not the best of circumstances, but I’m not just talking about the money, Bar.” Barry frowned. “What happens to STAR labs if someone else takes over the building?”

Sebastian a cold dread wash over him as he realised what Joe was talking about. “That’s a good point,” he agreed. “If you don’t keep STAR labs, what’s going to happen to all the meta’s we’ve got stashed away?” he asked, forgetting to lower his voice.

Immediately, the others shushed him and he winced. “Way to keep a secret, Seb,” Barry grumbled as Sebastian whispered his apologies, before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t think of that,” he admitted. “I don’t even want to think about what would happen if anyone found the containment cells. You’re right.”

Sebastian laughed and puffed out his chest a little. “Of course I’m right,” he retorted. “I’ve been telling you I’m a genius for years; you were just all too stupid to realise.”

The other’s laughed along with him, the tension that had previously been present slowly fading until barely anything remained. 

*

In the aftermath of the singularity, it had quickly become apparent the extent of the damage that had been caused, and how much money and time it would cost to repair everything.

Of course, Barry had been on his little crusade to fix things, but there had only been so much one person could do. 

STAR labs had been one of the places that had been low on Barry’s list of priorities. He had immediately checked to make sure the containment cells were secure, but then he hadn’t thought about what he was going to do with the rest of the building.

Sure, he had been fixing a few things here and there, but his heart hadn’t been in it as much as it had the rest of the city.

It had only been with the other’s help that they had managed to get the building resembling it’s former self, even a little bit.

Even Barry to admit that the others had been right; it was much easier working as a team and he felt much less isolated than he had at any point in the last six months.

“I think it’s safe to say we’ve done an awesome job,” Sebastian commented, flopping down into one of the chairs in the cortex and looking around at the others.

They were all there - even Iris and Joe; clearly Barry was taking his advice to heart, and was actually letting the non-meta’s actually help again.

Barry grinned and nodded his head in agreement. “It’s perfect,” he gushed.

Cisco beamed from where he was. “It better be,” he retorted. “With this new security system I’ve installed, this place is the safest in Central City. Now we don’t have to deal with people waltzing in and out of here whenever they feel like it. There’s no way anyone is getting past that security system undetected.”

The words were barely out of his mouth when they heard footsteps coming closer to the cortex. Footsteps that shouldn’t be there; everyone who had business to be at STAR labs was gathered around.

“You were saying!” Sebastian snapped, just as the stranger stepped through the entrance.

Taller than Sebastian, the stranger was good-looking in a way that Sebastian would have never expected himself to think. He had brown hair and was wearing a black leather jacket. He didn’t look too much like a threat.

But, Sebastian reasoned with himself, in his wheelchair, Wells hadn’t looked like a murderer either.

Maybe it was true what ‘they’ said; maybe you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Immediately, Joe withdrew his gun from his holster and aimed it on the stranger. “Stay where you are,” Joe ordered when the stranger took a step further into the cortex.

The other man didn’t look afraid that there was a gun in his face. In fact, he looked calmer than anyone Sebastian had ever seen. “My name is Jay Garrick,” he introduced him, holding his hands up - palms out - in the universally recognised signal to show that he was unarmed. “Your world is in danger, Barry Allen.”

Jay’s eyes were trained on Barry, which made Sebastian very uncomfortable. Not only did this person know Barry’s name, but he was also confident in determining which Allen twin he was actually talking to.

“Please, just let me explain,” Jay implored.

Barry frowned and ran his hand over his neck. Sebastian knew that gesture; Barry was considering doing exactly what Jay was asking him. “How do you know my name?” he asked softly.

A slightly relieved look crossed Jay’s face, even if Joe still hadn’t lowered the gun. “I know all your names,” Jay answered. It didn’t escape Sebastian’s attention that he hadn’t technically answered the question. “Caitlin Snow. Cisco Ramon. Detective Joe West. Iris West.” His eyes landed on Sebastian, and he suddenly started to feel even more uncomfortable.

“You must be Sebastian,” Jay finished, greeting Sebastian like he was an old friend of the family and not a stranger who had wandered into a highly secured secret facility.

Across the room, Joe growled in irritation. “That part about explaining needs to happen right now,” the police officer ordered.

Jay pursed his lips for a brief second as though he was irritated, before the look disappeared and he turned back to face the others. When he spoke, even though he was looking at everyone, it was obvious he was only talking to Barry. “This world is in danger,” he repeated his earlier statement.

Sebastian frowned and couldn’t stop himself from asking, “What other worlds are there?”

Jay didn’t divert his attention away from Barry as he answered, “When you created the singularity above Central City, you also created a breach between my world and yours.”

Sebastian still wasn’t following. Luckily for him, neither was Barry apparently. “A breach?” his twin asked.

“A portal connecting our two earths,” Jay explained, showing no sign of irritation now that Barry was the one asking the questions.

From where he was still standing, with his gun trained on Jay, Joe said, “I don’t see how that concerns you.”

Finally, Jay broke his gaze away from Barry and glanced over at Joe. “A few days ago, you found a dead man named Al Rothstein at the nuclear plant.” Sebastian couldn’t say he was impressed; the discovery of a body had been all over the papers. Anyone could have known that.

Jay wasn’t finished and Sebastian had to force himself to concentrate again. “But then, a different Al Rothstein tried to kill you,” he stated, aiming the words at Barry once more.

Barry and Sebastian exchanged surprised looks. They had all kept it under wraps that the man under the mask who had tried to kill the Flash was actually the same man they had found dead not that long before.

“That man was from my world,” Jay continued, either ignoring the twins’ look or completely oblivious to it. “If he got through the breach, I suspect there’ll be more to follow.”

Everyone in the room seemed to inhale in horror at the same time. Sebastian couldn’t say the same for everyone else, but he definitely hadn’t thought about that. If two people from a different world had managed to get through, there was nothing that could stop someone else from surprising them and catching them unaware.

“How, exactly, do you know all this?” Joe asked, ever the suspicious one.

Jay didn’t look irritated by Joe’s questions. In fact, he looked prepared. Like he had been expected the onslaught. “Where I came from, I was a speedster like you,” he answered, flicking his eyes back to Barry. “They called _me_ the Flash.”

*

Sebastian sighed as he slumped back in his seat, staring at the monitor. Jay had been teaching Barry how to throw lightning for almost an hour. While Sebastian had been staring at monitors, waiting for some random meta human to attack somewhere in the city.

On the screen, Barry said something that made Jay laugh and Sebastian scowled. The feeling that shot through him was unfamiliar, but he still recognised it.

He was jealous. Even Sebastian could admit that; if it was only to himself.

For the better part of a year, Sebastian had been a reluctant hero. He had never wanted to save people, but Barry and his powers hadn’t really given him much of a choice. 

Now he didn’t have any powers, Sebastian was finding it hard to figure out where he fit into the world of team Flash. Sure, he had given Barry a hard time about involving the others, but if he were being honest, Sebastian felt like he didn’t really belong there.

If you factored in whatever the hell was happening with his brain, making him see things, Sebastian couldn’t remember the last time he had felt more like himself.

He sighed again and grabbed his phone. He couldn’t sit around for much longer; he was going to go stir crazy if he didn’t get out.

_Going out for a bit. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine x_

Sebastian bashed out the message, sending it to Iris, Barry and Joe to make sure they didn’t worry, before getting to his feet.

He had a train to catch.

*

Travelling by train was one of the dullest experiences of Sebastian’s life. 

By the time he reached Starling - _Star_ , he was still getting used to the new name - City, Sebastian was seriously regretting his decision to leave Central. The last time he’d travelled by train had been over six months ago.

As he walked through the train station, Sebastian pulled his cell phone out and dialled Oliver.

The phone barely had chance to ring before the call was answered with a cheerful, “Hey, Seb.”

Sebastian couldn’t help smiling at the sound of Oliver’s voice. It had been a long time since they had spoken, and even longer since they had been face to face; in fact, Oliver hadn’t actually seen him since he and Barry had separated.

“Hey,” Sebastian returned the greeting. “Are you in the middle of something?” It was a stupid question - there was probably always something that needed the Green Arrow’s attention.

Oliver didn’t give him chance to retract his question. “Nope. Do you need help?”

Sebastian ran his hand over his neck. “Not technically,” he replied. He could practically hear Oliver frown on the other end of the phone, and continued before the older man could ask his questions. “Can we meet somewhere, for a coffee or something?”

“Of course,” Oliver replied, although there was still a note of concern in his voice. “Do you know where Verdant is - was?” he corrected himself.

He did, of course he did. Even before meeting Oliver, Sebastian had been a fan of the bad boy billionaire (mostly he had wanted to get into Oliver’s bed - which he had, thank you, very much), and had followed the news avidly when Club Verdant had been opened. 

Sebastian murmured his agreement to Oliver and hailed a cab as quickly as he could. It was times like this that he really missed having super speed.

*

As they pulled up to the building, the cab driver looked over at Sebastian, before asking him if he had gotten the address right.

Sebastian had to admit that, going to an abandoned club in the middle of the day was definitely a strange request, but he knew he was right. There was still the faded Verdant sign hanging over the door.

It certainly didn’t look anything like it had the last time Sebastian had seen it on the TV.

He quickly paid the driver, before climbing out of the cab and glancing back up at the building.

If he were being honest with himself, Sebastian had to admit that he didn’t actually know what he was doing in Star City. The last time he had been there, it had been to sleep with Oliver.

Now, Oliver was dating Felicity and even though Sebastian couldn’t be happier for his friends, he wasn’t sure how well received his presence would be. Especially not with Felicity.

Oliver was waiting for him in the main part of the building, where the bar had originally been, and Sebastian couldn’t help smiling at the sight of him. He knew that Oliver had been incommunicado for a few months - Oliver had warned both Barry and Sebastian, so neither of them would worry too much.

From where Sebastian was standing, the time away from his superhero responsibilities and Star City in general had been good to Oliver.

“Are you going to stand there all day?” Oliver’s voice called, cutting through Sebastian’s thoughts. Even though the other man’s back was turned, Sebastian could clearly hear the smile that was on his face.

Sebastian rolled his eyes and moved across the bar, sliding onto the only upright stool beside Oliver.

“I was going to compliment you and say you look good, but if you’re going to be mean…” He pouted a little.

Oliver laughed, a beautiful sound that Sebastian knew he would never tire of - even if Oliver didn’t do it nearly often enough. “You’re looking pretty good yourself, Seb,” Oliver replied, letting his eyes rake over Sebastian’s body.

At the action - and the obvious leer coming from Oliver - Sebastian couldn’t help raise an eyebrow. “Did you just hit on me, Mr Relationship?” he asked, leaning one elbow on the bar and looking over at Oliver.

Another laugh escaped Oliver and he shrugged a shoulder. “Force of habit,” he replied. “Felicity says hi, by the way.”

Green eyes widened at his words. “Felicity knows you’re here? With me? And she’s okay with that?”

“Why wouldn’t she be?” Oliver challenged. “It’s not like we’re going to sleep together while I’m in a relationship. I know that’s not who you are, and it’s not who I am, anymore.”

Sebastian offered him a small smile in response. “I suppose a lot of things are changing,” he whispered, running his fingers across the bar in front of him.

Beside him, Oliver sighed and reached out, placing a hand on Sebastian’s arm. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You sounded like there was something wrong on the phone. I wasn’t expecting you to show up in Star City, either.”  
  
“I know,” Sebastian replied. “I just couldn’t stay around in Central at the minute.” When Oliver looked at him questioningly, a sigh escaped. “I don’t like feeling useless,” he whispered, finally voicing what had been bothering him for months.

Oliver frowned and placed a hand on Sebastian’s arm. “You’re not useless, Seb.”

Sebastian scoffed. “Why do I get the feeling that people think if they say those words enough, I’m actually going to believe them?” He shook his head.

“Because they’re the truth,” Oliver pointed out. “I know you’re not a meta anymore, but…” He broke off when Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “You’re a… what?” the older man spluttered.

A wry smile spread across Sebastian’s face. “Surprise,” he replied, humourlessly letting out a chuckle. He turned his attention away from Oliver, focusing on the beat up bar in front of him.

The paintwork was chipped and peeling away. There were stains which Sebastian _hoped_ were from people not using coasters. In general, the bar was pretty wrecked.

It took a moment - he hadn’t been practising much, because he was still in the middle of freaking out about what was happening to him - but eventually the bar in front of him started to morph into something new; something fresh. Soon, the surface was sleek and polished, so Sebastian could see the reflection of Oliver’s face looking back at him surprise. 

After a few moments - long enough to get the message across to Oliver - Sebastian blinked and the repaired bar disappeared, showing the real version once more.

“I have no idea what’s going on with me, but this started happening a few weeks ago,” Sebastian whispered.

Oliver let out a low whistle and shook his head in amazement. “What did Barry say?” Sebastian looked away guiltily. “I know I’m the last person who should be lecturing you on keeping secrets from your family, but seriously, Seb? Barry would want to know. You know he’s not going to be happy when he finds out.”

Sebastian groaned and slumped forward, resting his head on his arms and closing his eyes. “I know,” he agreed. “But, you know what he’s like. He feels so guilty for everything at the minute; I don’t want to make things worse for him.”

He felt a hand land on his shoulder and couldn’t help but lean into the touch and comfort Oliver was offering. “I won’t tell anyone,” Oliver murmured, reassuring Sebastian, even though that thought had never entered his mind.

If there was one person he trusted, it was Oliver Queen.

“Just promise me one thing,” Oliver requested. Sebastian lifted his head and raised an eyebrow, waiting for Oliver to add his caveat. “When you do decide to tell everyone the truth, don’t let Cisco pick your superhero nickname.”

*

Barry was still reeling from his encounter with a meta made of sand ( _sand!)_ when he arrived back at CCPD headquarters.

He was so in a world on his own that he didn’t realise someone was heading in his direction, until they collided.

“Oh my god!” Barry exclaimed, finally snapping out of his daze. “I am so sorry, I-,”

The words died on his lips when he saw who he had walked into.

Eddie’s replacement, and Joe’s new partner, Patrick Spivot. He was a little taller than Barry, but built in pretty much the same way. From first glance, and what Sebastian had told him, Barry knew that Patrick was the kind of cop who preferred to be working a crime scene, rather than chasing down bad guys in the field.

How his brother found information like that out, Barry wasn’t sure he wanted to know. Even though Sebastian was adamant that he hadn’t slept with Patrick - and didn’t want to for some reason - Barry wasn’t sure how much of that he believed.

Hell, he couldn’t even work out how Sebastian knew that Patrick was even gay. Not that his brother had been stopped by something so trivial in the past. There were a lot of guys - especially in High School and College - that Sebastian had slept with, who still claimed to be straight.

It was all very confusing to Barry and part of the reason why he tried to avoid thinking about all things sexual unless he had to or couldn’t help it.

“Hey!” Patrick greeted, cutting through Barry’s thoughts. “You’re Barry, right? Allen?”

That surprised Barry. From the moment Sebastian had started working at the police station, he had gotten so used to people mixing the two of them up that at this point, he was pretty certain there wasn’t a name he wouldn’t answer to.

Barry grinned back in response. He found it hard to resist being caught up in Patrick’s enthusiastic mood. “Yeah, you’re Patrick; Joe’s new partner.”

The smile faltered a little and Barry couldn’t help wonder what he had said wrong for a moment. Before he got chance to say something else - to try and back peddle to make things better (even though he would probably end up doing the opposite) - the smile was back on Patrick’s face and he nodded his head. 

“I’m a huge fan,” Patrick gushed. For a horrible moment, Barry thought that Patrick was talking about his work as the Flash and he felt fear wash over him. Then the logical part of his brain caught up and pointed out that there was no way Patrick could know about Barry’s secret identity. Sebastian was very up to date on who knew about Barry being the Flash and who didn’t.

Barry was pretty sure there was even a spreadsheet or a database involved somewhere.

“Of your work,” Patrick continued when Barry didn’t say anything and the Speedster couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief. “I’ve read all your forensics papers!”

Barry felt his eyes widen in surprise and he couldn’t help letting out a small chuckle. “Wow,” he whispered. “I don’t even think _I’ve_ read them all, and you’re definitely a step ahead of Sebastian.” That wasn’t a lie; Barry knew his brother would rather go to the dentist than be forced to read anything relating to science if he could help it.

Being in separate bodies had not changed that; if anything, the separation had only strengthened Sebastian’s resolve to avoid anything academic.

Patrick chuckled along with him and Barry couldn’t help thinking that he could get lost in that sound and those eyes. “Anyway,” Patrick continued, clearing his throat and awkwardly changing topics. “I was actually looking for you.”

Barry hummed and raised a questioning eyebrow in a mannerism that was far too _Sebastian-_ like for Barry, but he hadn’t been able to stop himself from breaking the habit. 

“I was looking over the crime scene this morning after you had left,” Patrick continued, “and I found a bunch of steel cables that were sheered through. I know,” he hurried to add at Barry’s sceptical look, “it’s not that big a deal, but these cables were cut through cleaner than any sandblaster I know could do.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a clear plastic bag, which contained a vial. “I also found this,” Patrick continued, handing the bag to Barry. “It looks like some form of sand; it seemed out of place in a factory, you know?”

Barry couldn’t answer; his mind was reeling from the information Patrick was throwing at him. He couldn’t believe he had missed the sand or the cables. He had been so focused on the room where the meta human had actually been, that it had never even crossed Barry’s mind to look in other rooms.

Joe was so going to kill him.

“Wow,” Barry breathed. “That’s… thorough.” He chuckled. “You should be a CSI.” Patrick brushed adorably. “Thanks for this,” he added, shaking the bag to emphasise his point.

Patrick grinned in response. “No worries. If you need anything else, just give me a call.” He waited for Barry’s nod of agreement before turning on his heel and heading away, leaving Barry to watch after him with a stunned expression.

Barry only snapped out of his daze when he heard Sebastian call, “Oi!”

The elder of the twins rolled his eyes as he made his way over to Sebastian. “What?” he muttered, sliding the evidence into his pocket so he didn’t loose it.

“What was that about?” Sebastian asked, ever the nosey one.

Barry considered not telling him anything; if there was one sure fire way to annoy his brother, it was to deny him information when he wanted it. But Barry also felt like he couldn’t keep what he was feeling inside to him.

“I _think_ Patrick was just flirting with me,” he confessed, hating that he could feel his cheeks colouring in embarrassment. 

Sebastian’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped in surprise. “What did he say?” he demanded.

Barry chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not telling you,” he taunted. Sebastian glared at him, but he wasn’t going to relent. “Nope. Sorry, Seb. I’m going to have to keep this one to myself for a while.”

Without saying another word, he turned on his heel and marched away from Sebastian. He laughed when he heard his brother cursing after him. 

It felt good to be a little evil sometimes, he thought to himself.


	3. Family Of Rogues

Of all the stupid things Sebastian had done in the past, agreeing to help Iris on one of her stories had to be up there with the top three.

He genuinely didn’t know how he let himself get talked into doing things for her. All he knew was, one minute Iris had been telling him about a huge story she was working on for CCPN, and the next he had agreed to break into a building in the middle of the night.

Seriously, if he didn’t know any better, Sebastian would say that Iris was a meta human and had used some kind of mind trick on him.

A bullet ricocheted off the wall a few feet away from his head and Sebastian flinched away, barely suppressing the yelp of fear that bubbled in his throat.

“We know you’re here,” the shooter taunted, his voice echoing through the abandoned floor. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”

Sebastian heard a chuckle and the second shooter added, “We promise we won’t hurt you.”

He rolled his eyes and could barely stop himself from retorting and giving away his true position. Surely no one was stupid enough to believe that these two goons were going to let him go without an injury after he had been caught snooping.

He couldn’t stay where he was, Sebastian knew that. They would find him eventually if he did and there was no way in hell he was willing to be a sitting duck; to wait around and get killed. 

Taking a chance, and hoping that the goons were as bad a shot as they had shown themselves to be earlier, Sebastian ran from his hiding spot, to duck behind a post some ten feet away.

Just like he had expected, as soon as he moved, the bad guys opened fire on him; following him with a trail of bullets that, thankfully didn’t hit their target.

Of all the things he was not in the mood for, getting shot was seriously not on the list.

Sebastian needed to get out of there. He couldn’t stick around for much longer, and there was no way he was going to be able to make another break for it without risking being shot.

He needed a diversion.

As soon as the thought appeared in his head, Sebastian found himself hesitating. 

Imaging Barry’s bruises fading and Verdant’s bar being fixed was one thing, but using whatever the hell his new powers were to create a diversion long enough for him to escape? Even Sebastian knew that the odds of such a plan succeeding were slim to none.

Still, he reasoned with himself, chancing a glance at the bad guys who were slowly making their way around the room, there wasn’t really anything else he could do.

Sebastian took a deep breath and allowed his eyes to fall closed for a few seconds. Trying to not think about how likely he was to fail, he focused his green eyes on a spot across the room. Nice and far away from where he was standing.

At first nothing happened, and Sebastian swore under his breath. He took another breath and forced himself to focus. 

In the blink of an eye, and far quicker than any other illusion Sebastian had created, the Flash materialised on the spot he was focused on. The speed it happened was so fast that, for a second, Sebastian actually wondered if Barry had somehow gotten wind of where he was and appeared to save him.

The goon closest to where the ‘Flash’ was, snarled and whirled around, firing his gun at the newly materialised figure.

As the bullet sailed through the image, Sebastian lost focus and the Flash faded as quickly as he had arrived.

“So you’re one of those meta’s we’ve been hearing about.” He hummed. “That’s good to know. I’ve always wondered if you mutant freaks actually bled like the rest of us.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes, but didn’t respond like he clearly was expected to. Sure, his plan to use Barry as a distraction had failed, but he still had the real thing to call for back up.

He just didn’t want to do it. There was no way Barry was going to let him get away with not explaining what had happened, and then he was never going to hear the end of it from his brother.

Another bullet being fired - this one in completely the opposite direction - made his mind up for him. He was too pretty to die, Sebastian was sure of it.

Quickly, Sebastian reached into his pocket and dialled Barry’s number. If he knew his brother, he would still be at work; even though it was insanely late at night. 

“Hey, Seb,” Barry greeted, sounding far too awake and chipper for Sebastian’s liking. Not that he had the time to focus on the speedster’s mood.

“Bar, help!” Sebastian whispered, trying to keep his voice low enough to not attract attention from the shooters.

Sebastian heard the sound of glass breaking and hoped that, whatever Barry had just dropped wasn’t expensive enough for Singh to yell at him. “What’s wrong?” Barry asked urgently.

Yeah, Sebastian so did not have the time to go into detail about what he was doing. Instead, he focused on the important details Barry needed to save his ass. “I’m at Baldwin tower. I can’t find a way out.” He hated that there was a whine at the end of the sentence, but at that moment, he didn’t care.

He was totally not going to die for Iris’s stupid story. 

The words he had spoken must have been enough to get the goon’s attention and they fired off a shot in Sebastian’s direction; luckily they were still miles out, but they were getting closer, which was not going to end well for Sebastian.

“Were those gunshots?” Barry asked. In the back of his throat, Sebastian made a noise that could have passed as an agreement. He didn’t want to risk saying anything else and give away more information about his location. “Are you near a window?” Barry continued.

Of all the random questions, Sebastian thought to himself, but he still answered the question. “Um, yeah.” Ten feet away was close, right?

Barry hummed and Sebastian could practically hear the cogs turning in his mind. “Yeah, you’re going to need to jump.”

Sebastian’s jaw fell open. “What?” he shrieked, totally forgetting to keep his voice down. “You’re insane; no way!” he insisted over the sound of more gunshots.

Even through the phone line, there was no way of missing his brother’s huff off irritation. “Seb, just trust me. You. Need. To. Jump.”

Sebastian sighed and glanced around the pillar; the bad guys were gaining on him. It wouldn’t be longer before they discovered his hiding spot. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Bar,” he whispered, shaking his head in disbelief. He couldn’t believe he was even considering doing what Barry had said.

It was official. Sebastian had actually lost his mind.

With another deep breath, and without another word to Barry, Sebastian pushed himself away from his hiding spot and ran toward the window as fast as he could.

Luckily for him, the bad guys couldn’t run and shoot at the same time; there was no way they were going to hit him, and they even managed to break the window for him, making it less painful for Sebastian when he threw himself out of it.

Not that it would have made a difference it he had gotten shot, Sebastian thought to himself as he hurtled toward the ground. He was going to die anyway. As soon as he hit the sidewalk, he was going to be a gonna.

The impact never came and Sebastian forced his eyes open - when had he closed them? - to see that he had been caught his brother, who was hurtling them toward the ground in a much safer manner.

With care, Barry set Sebastian down on the sidewalk and stepped back a little to allow his brother to catch his breath. Sebastian had forgotten how windy it was running at top speed.

“You okay?” Barry asked as soon as they were on solid ground. Sebastian silently nodded his head; he couldn’t speak when he could barely breathe. “How many guys are up there?” Barry asked.

Silently, Sebastian held up two fingers, still trying to regulate his breathing. “Wait here,” Barry instructed, before disappearing in a blur of lightning.

In less than a second, Barry appeared holding the guns that the bad guys had been shooting at him. “Okay, now they’re taking little naps until the CCPD get here.”

Relief flooded through Sebastian’s body and he could help but feel grateful that his brother could move so fast. He would have been dead for sure if Barry had been even a fraction slower.

He didn’t get chance to feel grateful for too much longer, before Barry scowled and turned on him with a barrage of concern laced, but still irritated questions. “What the hell were you thinking, Sebastian?”

Sebastian couldn’t help wincing in response to Barry’s words. He knew it was never a good sign when someone who called you by a nickname as a rule, used your full name. “Iris got a hot lead on a real estate scam,” he answered petulantly. “She asked me to help her out.”

Behind his mask, Barry’s eyes narrowed, and Sebastian sighed.

“Given the choice, which of us would prefer to be here?” Sebastian asked. “You know as well as I do, that you’re glad it was me in danger and not Iris.”

Barry shook his head. “Seb, you know that’s not-,”

Sebastian raised a hand, cutting of Barry’s words. “I didn’t mean that you care about me less than you care about her,” he stated. “I just meant that I know how to protect myself better than her.”

*

With everything that was going on in Central City, sometimes it was nice to take a break and spend time together as friends; instead of team Flash.

After a lull in meta-human activity, and a pretty strict order from Professor Stein, Barry, Sebastian and the others had admitted that they could afford to take a small break.

They had unanimously agreed that Jitters was the only place they were interested in. Something Barry quickly regretted when he saw that they had created a new drink called The Flash.

Sebastian had enjoyed teasing him mercilessly about it, before pouting that he wanted a drink named after him too.

Cisco had pointed out that, technically, the Flash coffee _was_ partly named after him, ruining Sebastian’s argument and making the other man stick his tongue out at him.

Barry had been volunteered for waiter duties and he was currently waiting at the counter for their drinks.

“Thanks, Kendra,” he said, smiling at the barista before turning to head back to their table.

And narrowly avoided running head first into Patrick Spivot. “Hey!” Barry exclaimed, partly in surprise and partly in happiness at seeing the police officer. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Patrick at Jitters.

Patrick grinned. “Hey,” the police officer responded, no less enthusiastic than Barry. He glanced down at Barry’s hands. “That’s a lot of caffeine,” he observed when he saw how many cups Barry was holding.

Barry glanced down, trying to remember what he had been doing before looked into Patrick’s eyes. “What? Oh,” he continued, trying to not roll his eyes at himself when he remembered, “they’re not all for me.”

Patrick chuckled. “Well, I would hope not. If you had that much coffee, I think you’d give even the Flash a run for his money.”

Barry echoed his laugh, albeit his was a little more nervous sounding. “I should get these to my friends,” he said reluctantly. He really didn’t want to leave Patrick, but the drinks were getting hot in his hands and, out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other’s watching them closely.

Patrick looked a little disappointed for a moment, before the look disappeared quickly. “Sorry, I’ll let you go.”

“You could join us?” Barry offered, his mouth operating before his brain had given it permission to speak.

The police officer smiled at him bashfully. “It’s okay,” he whispered, “I have reports I need to get back to. Go, have fun with your friends.”

They said their goodbyes to each other, before going their separate ways; Barry couldn’t help feeling like he didn’t actually want the other man to leave.

With a sigh, Barry headed over to the table where most of the others were trying to look innocent; Sebastian wasn’t even pretending.

“What the hell was that about?” Sebastian demanded before Barry had even put down the drinks. When he claimed that he didn’t know what his brother was talking about, Sebastian glared at him. “He was flirting with you. Talking about the drink and the Flash like that? He definitely wants to sleep with you.”

Barry’s cheeks coloured, even as he glared at Sebastian. “How do you know that? Do you have some super powers we don’t know about, like super hearing?” 

He glanced down at his coffee so missed the uncomfortable look that crossed Sebastian’s face, because it was gone by the time he looked up.

“No, but I know body language and I’m not an idiot,” Sebastian snapped. “Why didn’t you ask him over here?”

Barry raised an eyebrow. “I did, actually,” he corrected the younger twin. “But he said he needed to get back to work.”

Sebastian mirrored his expression. “No, he turned you down because we’re all here. You should have offered to take him somewhere more private; show him a good time.”

Sebastian groaned and let his head fall onto the table with a thump. “Did I teach you nothing? Seriously?”

*

Sebastian was halfway through his shift at the police station station when his cell phone buzzed from where it was lying on the desk. Quickly, he reached out and grabbed it to stop it from making too much noise; he wasn’t supposed to have his personal cell out while he was at work.

That had been a rule he had quickly decided he was going to ignore. Everyone else used their phone at work; why should he be any different just because he wasn’t a cop?

Glancing over his shoulder to make sure Singh wasn’t watching - he was a rebel, not an idiot - Sebastian looked down at the phone and felt his eyes widen in surprise.

It was a FaceBook message from Blaine.

After they had bumped into each other during Sebastian’s ill-fated relationship with Li, Blaine had sought Sebastian out on FaceBook. They hadn’t spoken to each other much though, besides a few birthday posts and they had liked a couple of random pictures.

But now Blaine had sent him a direct message. Something no one else could see.

As he unlocked his phone, Sebastian could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He felt like a teenager all over again; from the moment he had spotted Blaine across the senior common room, he had been infatuated.

Damn him for making Sebastian fell like that all over again.

_Hey, Seb. I’m in Central City, and I was wondering if you wanted to grab a drink. Blaine x_

It felt like Sebastian had slipped into a parallel universe. One where everything he’d fantasised about for almost a decade was coming true.

His fingers were shaking slightly as he quickly typed out a reply.

_Hey, Killer :-) Long time no see. Of course I want to. Just let me know when and where. Seb x_

Blaine’s response came through much quicker than Sebastian would have expected and he couldn’t help wonder whether Blaine had already typed it while he was waiting for Sebastian. The thought that Blaine was eager to see him made Sebastian feel a little giddy, and even a little giggly.

_Tonight at 7, if you’re not doing anything else? I found this cute coffee shop called Jitters x_

Sebastian couldn’t help laugh in response. It felt like a life time since he had been to Jitters; he hadn’t been in since it had reopened after the singularity.

_Jitters is perfect. I’ll see you then x_

Still smiling to himself, Sebastian slid his cell into his pocket, just in time for Singh to pass his desk. Immediately, Sebastian straightened up, trying to not look like he had been doing something he shouldn’t.

“You know you look even more suspicious like that than usual, right?” Barry’s voice asked from behind him, making Sebastian jump in surprise.

Sebastian spun around and glared at his brother, who looked more amused than should be legal. “Don’t do that!” he snapped, eyes narrowing even further when Barry laughed harder.

Barry moved around Sebastian, hopping up on the desk beside Sebastian’s chair. “Who were you texting?” he asked, swinging his legs back and forth. He was clearly aiming for innocent; something Sebastian might have fallen for if he didn’t actually _know_ the meta human.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Mind your own business,” he muttered.

The other man laughed and shook his head. “Come on,” he nudged, “tell me.”

There was going to be no changing his mind; Sebastian knew that. If there was one thing they had in common, it was their inability to let something drop when they wanted to know more.

With a light sigh, Sebastian relented. “Blaine.”

Barry’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?” Sebastian nodded. “What did he want?”

“He’s back in Central City and wants to grab a coffee,” Sebastian answered, trying to stop the grin from spreading across his face.

He wasn’t surprised when Barry looked at him with sympathy in his eyes. “Seb,” he whispered. “I know this seems like a dream come true, but - please - try not to get your hopes up.” Sebastian’s glare darkened, but Barry didn’t stop. “I know, I seem like a killjoy, but Blaine’s _married,_ Seb.”

That hadn’t escaped Sebastian’s attention. Of course he had known that Blaine was married; it was hard to forget when you’re involved in the elaborate proposal and have a deep crush on one of the grooms. But that didn’t mean Sebastian couldn’t have a coffee with the other man.

When he said as much to Barry, he added, “Besides, Blaine asked me; not the other way around. It’s up to him how far he wants to take this.”

Barry sighed lightly and placed his hand on Sebastian’s shoulder. “Stop trying to pretend,” he instructed, ducking his head so he could look into his twin’s eyes. “Sleeping with a married man isn’t your style.” When Sebastian opened his mouth to argue that Barry was wrong, the meta continued, “I know you, Seb, remember? I’ve been inside your head. You’re not a home wrecker.”

Sebastian echoed Barry’s sigh with one of his own and let his head fall forward. He was right; of course, Barry was right. Not sleeping with married men was one of Sebastian’s few rules (and he didn’t have many to begin with).

But he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend some time with Blaine - even if nothing was going to happen.

“It’s just coffee, Bar,” Sebastian finally replied, shrugging his brother’s hand off and getting to his feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered, offering Barry a smile before grabbing a file he needed to give to Joe’s partner, Patrick.

*

Jitters was busier than usual to say it was a Tuesday evening, but Sebastian wasn’t surprised. Ever since the grand re-opening, the place had been experiencing a resurgence in popularity.

“Hey, Sebastian,” one of the baristas, Whitney, greeted him with a wide smile when he got to the front of the line. “The usual?” she asked, already reaching for a cup even though he hadn’t answered her.

He grinned and reached into his pocket for his wallet. “You know me too well, Whit,” he replied, pulling out a few bills, slipping them in the tip jar. 

Whitney was in her mid forties and she’d had a soft spot for him (and Barry) ever since Iris’s first day on the job. Even though Iris no longer worked there, Whitney still treated Sebastian and Barry as though they were members of her own family; treating them to free drinks and refills whenever they were in. 

Sebastian always made a habit of tipping her more than he ordinarily would as a thank you for her persistent mothering of him and his brother.

With a murmured thanks to the new barista he didn’t recognise - Kendra, her name tag read - Sebastian collected his mocha before turning to survey the shop. He quickly decided to chose one of the booths that Barry had fitted during his one-man crusade to fix the city.

He positioned himself so he had a perfect view of the door for when Blaine arrived. _If_ he arrived, Sebastian couldn’t help think to himself. Even as he thought it, Sebastian hated himself. He didn’t want to think that Blaine was going to stand him up, but Barry was right. Blaine _was_ married; it wouldn’t surprise Sebastian if he chickened out of meeting up at the last minute.

Sebastian’s thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Blaine stepped into the shop.

As cliche as it felt to even _think_ , Sebastian felt like everything in the room had stopped. Blaine looked better than he had the last time they had seen each other, if that was even possible.

Just like last time, the hair gel Blaine had worn throughout high school was gone, leaving the other man’s hair free to hang over his eyes. It suited him much better, even if it did make Sebastian wonder was it was like to run his finger through those curls.

Blaine’s eyes scanned the room quickly, before he headed over to the counter and ordered his own drink.

“I should have known you’d already know about this place,” Blaine commented as he approached where Sebastian was sitting.

Sebastian laughed and got to his feet, offering Blaine half a hug before they both sat down opposite each other. “Well, my sister _did_ work here for years,” Sebastian replied with a chuckle, drawing the same from Blaine. “The manager has a soft spot for us, so me and my brother get free coffees, even though Iris doesn’t work here anymore.”

Blaine grinned widely and shook his head, a look of amazement on his face. “I still can’t believe you have a brother; a _twin_ brother!” Blaine murmured, shaking his head as though it would help him understand more.

When Barry had created his own FaceBook account, it hadn’t taken everyone longer to realise that he and Sebastian had exactly the same face. Thankfully the cover story they used in their day to day lives, worked for their old High School friends as well. Whenever anyone asked, the twins replied that Barry had chosen to go to High School in Ohio, before attending Gotham college with Sebastian.

They flicked it around if anyone from college asked, of course.

It wasn’t ideal, but it worked.

Sebastian chuckled. “I know! I like to think that they broke the mould with me, so there won’t be any more.”

Blaine echoed his laugh. “There’s the Sebastian I remember,” he whispered, running his finger around the rim of the cup. “Confident and cock-sure.”

There was a wistfulness to his voice that made Sebastian raise an eyebrow. He couldn’t help wondering if there was more to Blaine’s appearance in Central City than initially seemed.

Instead of speculating, Sebastian decided to just ask his questions; admittedly, he was going to at least _try_ and be subtle about it. “What about you, anyway?” he asked. “Update me on the Merry Life of Blaine Anderson-Hummel.”

A pained look crossed Blaine’s face, before it disappeared. “It’s just Anderson, now,” he corrected the other man. Sebastian felt his eyes widen and knew that he wasn’t keeping his surprise from his face when Blaine shrugged. “It’s okay,” he waved a hand to brush off the sympathy Sebastian hadn’t even been planning on giving (he had never liked Kurt Hummel, anyway). “We separated in February; the divorce should be final in a few months.”

Sebastian didn’t know how to respond. For a long time he had wanted to get into Blaine’s pants; like Barry had said, he wasn’t a home-wrecker, but back in High School, if Blaine had asked, Sebastian couldn’t accurately say he would have been able to resist.

Oddly enough, now he was sitting here with everything he had ever wanted on a plate, Sebastian found that he didn’t actually want to take things further with Blaine. It was obvious the other man was still hurting from whatever had happened with Kurt, and Sebastian absolutely refused to be a rebound fling.

Instead of offering his condolences, Sebastian murmured, “So that’s why you’re back in Central City.”

Blaine cracked a smile at his words, returning to the happy young man he had always known. “Do you remember the project we were working on last year?” Sebastian nodded. “Our contract got extended for another year. I decided to relocate to Central to make things easier.”

Sebastian let out a slow breath, trying to stay calm. A year with Blaine in Central City. That was a long time; Sebastian was sure there was no way Blaine needed that long to get over Hummel. 

That thought made Sebastian _very_ happy indeed.

“Well,” Sebastian said, cracking a grin, “I suppose if you’re going to stick around here for a while, I should probably introduce you to Barry and Iris. I should warn you, Iris is very protective of me.”

Blaine cracked a grin. “I’d like that,” he agreed. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting Barry for a while now, and I’m sure I can convince Iris that I have only honourable intentions towards you.”

“Not too honourable, I hope,” Sebastian couldn’t help quipping, making Blaine laugh along with him.

*


	4. The Fury of FIRESTORM

Barry hated feeling useless.

Over the years, he had gotten used to feeling like there were things he couldn’t do, but it hadn’t mattered; he’d always had Sebastian to fall back on. Now, his twin was living his own life, in his own body and Barry didn’t have the luxury of hiding away inside his mind.

Watching Caitlin try to stabilise Professor Stein, made those feelings return tenfold and Barry hated everything about it.

His collapse was so unexpected, that none of them had known what to do initially. They had been standing around, celebrating the defeat of their newest metahuman (small victories were still victories), when Stein had passed out.

The Professor’s condition had rapidly deteriorated from there. Caitlin had finally managed to get him to a point where he was no longer in imminent danger, but they were by no means out of the woods yet.

“I did what I could to re-engineer Doctor Wells’ original stabiliser to quell the reaction, but I don’t know what he used as a power source,” Cisco explained. He looked two seconds away from tearing his hair out. “The best I could find was the one he used from his wheelchair.”

Barry sighed and ran a hand over his face. “How long will that last?” he asked, not sure he wanted to know the answer.

Cisco shrugged. “That’s the problem. We’ve already used up most of its energy trying to dampen the metas’ powers during our air trip with Weather Wizard and company.” He took a deep breath. “I think we got a few days tops.”

“And he’s stuck in bed?” Sebastian asked from where he was sitting on the floor, with his back to the wall.

Cisco nodded. “When he wakes up, Cisco is going to transfer the stabiliser to this, so we can get him moving again.” His held up a black cane, to emphasise his point.

“We need to figure out a way to save him,” Sebastian stated and Barry nodded in agreement; there was no way he was going to let anyone else die on his watch.

Across the cortex, a small smile spread across Caitlin’s face as he took the reigns from Cisco. “I think I might know a way to do that,” she said, making them look at her in surprise. “When the Particle Accelerator exploded, the dark matter that collided with Professor Stein, fused with the FIRESTORM matrix and altered the normal molecular processes that occurs within his body.”

From his position on the floor, Sebastian let out a whine of confusion and pulled a face. Barry didn’t bother interrupting Caitlin; he would explain in English to his brother later.

“Those highly reactive molecules needed something to bond with in order to stabilise,” Caitlin continued.

Barry was starting to realise where the doctor’s thoughts were going, and he had to admit it was a pretty good idea. Even if it was a long shot. “That’s where Ronnie came in,” he realised.

Caitlin nodded in agreement. “Yes, and now that Ronnie is no longer a part of Professor Stein-,”

“Those molecules don’t have anything to bond to,” Barry finished for her. “And the longer he goes without merging, the more unstable he becomes.”

Sebastian sighed heavily and got to his feet. “Okay, so ignoring the fact that I only understood, like, twenty percent of that, what do we do?” he asked.

“We find another… participant.” Caitlin answered.

The younger twin raised an eyebrow. “How are we supposed to do that? I’m assuming we can’t just run around the city, grabbing random people?”

Caitlin laughed and shook her head. “Definitely not,” she agreed. She opened her mouth as though she were going to explain the more complicated aspects of the process, but then realised she was talking to Sebastian and corrected herself to, “There are a lot of variables to consider before we can even think about approaching anyone.”

Sebastian’s cell phone beeped and he glanced at it, before swearing under his breath. “We’re late,” he stated, looking up at Barry.

Cisco raised an eyebrow. “Late for what?” he asked curiously.

“Blaine - this guy from school - wants to meet my brother,” Sebastian answered, grabbing his coat from where he had dropped it earlier.

Barry bit his lip and shook his head. “I’m not sure this is the best time, Seb. What if Professor Stein needs our help?”

The other three shared knowing looks, and it was Caitlin who answered, “The computers are going to be running their algorithms for at least a couple of hours. Go with Seb.”

Sebastian laughed and clapped his brother on the back. “Nice try, Bar,” he chuckled. “Come on, zip us to Jitters; I’ll pick my bike up later.”

Barry hesitated for another second, before sighing and relenting. Hopefully the meeting with Blaine wasn’t going to be as awkward as he was anticipating.

* 

Barry was going to pass out, Sebastian was sure of it; and it had nothing to do with the fact that he had just raced across the city (something Sebastian still couldn’t get used to being a passenger for).

He was scared of meeting Blaine.

“Jeez, Bar,” Sebastian muttered, pulling the door open. “You look like I’m taking you to your execution. Will you relax? It’s only Blaine.”

Barry glared at him lightly. “You know this is a bigger deal than that,” he snapped. “The last time _I_ saw him, Blaine was proposing to Kurt.”

Sebastian scowled. “Thanks for the reminder,” he grumbled. It had always been a sore spot for him that Barry had agreed to help Blaine with his OTT proposal to Hummel. “Well, you better get over it, because he’s over there and I’m not letting you leave now.”

Without another word, Sebastian placed his hand on Barry’s back and shoved him toward the table where Blaine was sitting.

As he saw them approaching, Blaine’s honey coloured eyes widened a fraction and Sebastian was pretty sure he knew what was running through his mind. The first time anyone who knew them before - before they were separated - saw them together, it always amazed them how much alike they looked.

Everyone expected there to be _something_ physically different about the twins, but they were completely identical. The explosion and singularity, had pretty much created a duplicate Barry to hold Sebastian’s soul and mind.

“Hey,” Blaine greeted, getting to his feet as they got closer. 

Sebastian grinned and pressed a kiss against Blaine’s cheek in greeting - it wasn’t a romantic kiss, but he could still feel Barry’s eyes on the back of his head; something he ignored.

“Blaine, this is my brother, Barry,” Sebastian said, indicating to the speedster. “Bar, this is Blaine Anderson,” he introduced them as though they hadn’t met; of course, as far as Blaine knew, that was the truth, and that was the story they were sticking to.

Barry reached his hand out and shook Blaine’s. “Nice to meet you, Blaine,” he said as they all slid into their chairs. “Seb’s told me so much about you, I feel like we’ve already met,” he couldn’t resist adding.

Sebastian swiftly kicked his brother under the table. “I promise I’ve only told him the good stuff,” he swore.

Across the table, Blaine laughed and threw a light glare in Sebastian’s direction. “You better have,” he threatened. “Remember, I know just as many embarrassing stories about you.”

With those words, the tension that had been oozing out of Barry seemed to relax and they quickly fell into a familiarity that made Sebastian realise he could get used to seeing Blaine so frequently.

Almost an hour, and two cups of coffee later, movement out of the corner of his eye caught Sebastian’s attention. He turned his head, just in time to see Iris slide down into a chair near the door the coffee shop. She looked terrified, he thought.

“Sorry, guys,” Sebastian said, not taking his eyes from Iris as he got to his feet. “I won’t be a second, is that okay?”

He waited for nods of agreement from the others, before grabbing his third cup and heading over to where Iris was sitting. “Are you okay?” Sebastian asked when he was close enough to Iris for her to be able to hear.

Iris’s head snapped up in surprise. “Seb? What are you doing here?” she asked, looking around quickly to make sure… someone wasn’t there. Who that someone was, Sebastian had no idea; he was pretty sure she would have told him if she was dating someone. Hell, he had told her about Blaine and they weren’t even dating. Yet.

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed a little. “Coffee with Blaine and Bar,” he answered, jerking his head back to indicate to the table behind him. “Your turn.”

The expression on Iris’s face darkened and for a second, Sebastian thought she was going to argue with him; not that he would have backed down from a fight. Iris obviously knew this as well, because she sighed and slouched back in her chair. “I called Francine,” she admitted.

Sebastian nearly fell over in shock. “What?”

When Joe had told Iris - then Barry and Sebastian - that his wife wasn’t as dead as they thought she was, none of them had expected it. Iris didn’t really remember her mom, and the twins only knew her from Joe’s stories, but they had always believed - been told - that she had died when Iris was young.

Apparently, she had left them and Joe, wanting to spare Iris’s feelings, had made her believe her mother was no longer alive.

Iris had told them that she didn’t care about Francine being alive; she disappeared without a trace so long ago, that Iris didn’t need a mother now.

Personally, Sebastian was on her side, but Barry had tried to convince her that she was making a mistake. The speedster had used Henry as an example; saying that he would have given anything to have his dad back when he had been in prison.

It had taken all of Sebastian’s self restraint to not comment about how Henry had ended up doing the same as Francine and disappearing anyway, but he was pretty sure Barry had been able to tell what he was thinking.

He had never had much of a poker face.

“I take it she’s coming here?” Sebastian asked, to which Iris nodded. “Where’s Joe? Shouldn’t he be here too?”

Sebastian was pretty sure that if Joe found out Iris was talking to her mom without telling him, the police officer wouldn’t be too happy. Hell, he would probably find someway to blame it on Sebastian.

“I didn’t want him here,” Iris admitted. “I didn’t want anyone here; not really. But, after everything she’s put on him over the years, Dad shouldn’t have to put up with her excuses anymore.”

Sebastian’s eyes flickered over to the table where Barry and Blaine were still talking away about something, before he glanced back at Iris. “Do you want me to go as well?” he asked.

A conflicted look crossed Iris’s face, before she shook her head a little. “Do you mind? I could use some moral support.”

He grinned at her and slid into the seat beside her, placing the cup on the table. “Of course, I don’t,” he retorted. “You know me; I’m always here for support - moral or otherwise.”

His words managed to make Iris smile a little and Sebastian couldn’t help grinning as well.

The grin was wiped off his face when the door to Jitters opened and in walked a woman who could only be Iris’s mom. Even if she didn’t look different from the pictures Sebastian had seen growing up, she was almost identical to Iris; there was no doubt in his mind, who this woman was.

“Are you sure you want me here?” Sebastian asked, suddenly feeling unsure of himself. He felt like he was about to intrude on a moment that had nothing to do with him.

Out of the corner of his mouth, Iris hissed, “If you leave me now, Sebastian Joseph Allen, I will _kill_ you.”

As Francine drew closer, Iris got to her feet and Sebastian followed suit.

“Iris?” the older woman asked. Sebastian almost felt sorry for her; she sounded petrified to be facing the pair of them.

Iris offered her a tense nod and an even tenser smile. “Francine.”

Francine’s dark eyes flickered to Sebastian, before looking back at Iris. “Where’s your father?” she asked. “Is this your boyfriend?”

Sebastian couldn’t help letting out a sharp laugh at her words, earning him an elbow in the ribs from Iris. “Dad had to work,” Iris lied. “And, no, this isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my brother. Sebastian, this is Francine.”

A look of confusion crossed Francine’s face, and Sebastian had to bite back a laugh at the expression. It wasn’t hard to work out what was running through her mind; it was obvious that Sebastian was not _biologically_ Joe’s kid, but he wasn’t about to correct her.

“My twin is over there,” Sebastian stated, mirroring his earlier gesture and jerking his head in the direction of Barry.

“Nice to meet you,” Francine murmured, making a move to sit down.

As soon as they were all seated again, Iris blurted out, “Why are you here? After two decades, why now?”

Sebastian eyes narrowed and he shot his sister a sharp look, but it didn’t get her attention. He couldn’t remember if he had ever heard her speak to anyone like it; he couldn’t believe how rude she was being. And, that was coming from someone who most people believed didn’t _have_ any manners.

To her credit, Francine didn’t appear phased by her daughter’s apparent hatred; she actually looked like she had been expecting it or something similar. “I want to make this right with you,” she answered, sounding completely genuine; at least, Sebastian thought so.

Iris pursed her lips and kept her eyes trained on Francine. Privately, Sebastian thought that Iris was refusing to look at him to stop her resolve from breaking. “How about you start apologising for walking out on us?”

Immediately, the regretful look on Francine’s face deepened. “I _am_ sorry. So sorry, but there’s so much you don’t know…”

Iris raised a hand, cutting off what she had been about to say, which irritated Sebastian; he wanted to know, dammit. “I’m sure you’ve been though a lot,” Iris retorted sarcastically.

Sebastian couldn’t help wincing on Francine’s behalf and he finally caved, placing a hand on his sister’s arm to try and ground her. He scowled when it was not so subtly shrugged off.

“I can appreciate you feeling like this is suddenly the right time for you to want me in your life,” Iris continued, oblivious to what was going in Sebastian’s head. “But, that doesn’t mean it’s the right time for _me_.”

Suddenly Sebastian could see it; the chink in her armour. Iris was starting to crack. Francine trying to be in her life, when she had spent so much of her childhood wishing that her mom were still alive, had gotten to Iris more than she would ever admit; even to Sebastian.

Her being such a bitch at that moment was her way of getting back at Francine for abandoning them and trying to regain some control.

This time when he tried to put his hand on her arm, it wasn’t shaken off.

“I’ve been thinking about this,” Iris continued, placing one hand over Sebastian’s and squeezing thankfully. “I know you want me in your life, but it isn’t fair. Not on me; but, it’s not fair on Dad, or to make him the bad guy. He didn’t lie to me to hurt me. He did it to protect me. To protect me from the truth that my mother didn’t love me enough to stick around.”

A single tear fell from Iris’s cheek, and she angrily swiped it away before it could fall from her chin.

“I don’t hate you, Francine,” Iris said, her voice sounding softer than it had since the beginning of the conversation. “I wish I could, but I don’t. I wish you well, but we’ve lived separate lives for over twenty years. I have my dad and two fantastic brothers.” Sebastian couldn’t help preening a little at those words. “I didn’t need more family growing up, and I don’t need it now.”

For the first time since they sat down, Iris glanced at Sebastian and offered him a thankful smile, before turning back to Francine. “We’ll be fine without you. We always have been.”

Francine looked heartbroken at Iris’s words, but there was also a look of resignation as well. She knew that it was pointless to argue with Iris; she was clearly one stubborn young woman.

“I understand,” Francine whispered, clutching tightly at her purse as she got to her feet, with Iris and Sebastian automatically following suit. “It was nice meeting you, Sebastian.”

Sebastian nodded and returned the greeting, even though he wasn’t one hundred percent sure he meant the words he was saying.

Francine turned back to her daughter. “Iris…” She paused and shook her head, clearly searching for the right words to say. “You’ve grown into a beautiful woman. I’m proud to call you my daughter.”

She offered them one final smile, before turning on her heel and walking away.

As soon as they were alone, Sebastian sighed and pulled his sister into a hug. “Are you okay?” he whispered, pressing a kiss against her hair.

Iris let out a noise that Sebastian had no hope in hell of being able to decipher, before lifting her head. “That was almost as bad as I expected it to be,” she admitted. Iris took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders a littler. “But, yeah, I think I’m okay. Or, at least, I will be.”

Sebastian grinned and kissed her quickly, before sliding his hand into Iris’s. “Come on,” he urged. “I want you to meet my boyfriend.”

Iris laughed and allowed herself to be dragged behind him. “Does he know that, yet?” she asked.

“What, like I’m supposed to _tell_ him?”

*

So, it turned out that, all the technology they had at STAR labs couldn’t predict someone’s mental capacity for dealing with the strain of being a meta-human.

Because that wasn’t a big deal or anything.

Caitlin had been convinced that Henry Hewitt had been the best match for Professor Stein and the FIRESTORM matrix, but when they had tried, the tests had been negative; his body hadn’t taken to the abilities like they had hoped.

Everyone had thought it would be a case of moving onto Jefferson ‘Jax’ Jackson and getting him to try.

Of course, none of them could have predicted Hewitt going nuclear and trying to kill them off.

Although, Sebastian thought to himself, based on their record, it was pretty stupid of them to not think that something like this would happen.

Barry had volunteered to find Jax and bring him back to STAR labs; he was the only one who could get there fast enough, after all. Sebastian had insisted that he was going as well.

When they had all looked at him in confusion, he had pointed out that Barry was more likely to try and baffle the kid with science. He needed someone to explain what this meant, without all the technobabble.

Not that Sebastian was having much luck on the convincing front, and they were running out of time; if the updates from Caitlin in his ear were anything to go by.

“How many times do I have to tell you people that I’m not interested?” Jax snapped, dropping the wrench he was holding onto the work bench.

Sebastian threw a look at Barry, silently begging his twin to let him continue doing the speaking. “I know this is freaky as, Jax,” he said softly, sticking his hands in his pockets and rocking on the balls of his feet; a trait he had definitely picked up from Barry.

“Trust me, I know how scary something like this can be,” Sebastian continued. Jax scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Do you remember the hole that opened up above the sky a while back? From the moment we,” he indicated to himself and Barry, “were born to then, Barry and I shared the same body.”

Jax’s eyes widened and he looked at Sebastian in disbelief. “How is that even possible?”

Sebastian shrugged. “I have no idea,” he confessed. “But, until last year, we never knew that we were twins. We always thought we were two halves of the same personality.”

“Trust me, I know how creepy it is to share a body with someone,” Sebastian continued. “But you’re going to have something we never did.”

“What?” Jax asked, folding his arms as he waited for the response.

“A way of separating you and Professor Stein whenever you want,” Sebastian replied. “Barry and I didn’t have a choice to be in the same body, but you don’t need to live the rest of your life like that.”

A thoughtful look crossed Jax’s face. “So, it’s not permanent?” he asked, and Sebastian had to fight to suppress the smile. It looked like he had found the basis of what was really bothering Jax.

“The exposure to the FIRESTORM matrix is irreversible,” Barry jumped in for Sebastian.

“But,” Sebastian picked the explanation back up, “you don’t have to stay like that for ever. Just long enough to keep your bodies and the FIRESTORM matrix stabilised. Then you’re free to do whatever you want with your life.”

Sebastian smiled a little at Jax, trying to reassure the younger man. “Trust me, being a superhero is actually pretty kick-ass when it comes down to it.”

*

In the end, they managed to create a new FIRESTORM pairing, and Jax had helped defeat Hewitt on his first outing.

All in all, Sebastian thought the day could be classed as a success.

“Maybe you should become a motivational speaker,” Barry commented, making Sebastian roll his eyes as they headed toward the police station; it was almost time for Sebastian to start his shift and Barry had been neglecting his CSI duties for longer than he liked to admit.

Sebastian scoffed. “Pretending to care about people? No thank you.”

Barry chuckled and shook his head. “Pretend all you want, but I heard what you said to Jax. All of us had tried to get through to him, but you’re the one who managed it. Because you knew what he was going through. You managed to get through to him when none of us could.”

Whatever Sebastian had been about to respond with died on his lips when he heard a yelp coming from behind them.

Immediately, the pair of them whirled around to find the source of the sound. Behind them, was a teenager who looked completely terrified. It wasn’t difficult to see why, either. He was being attacked by…

“Is that a giant shark?” the younger of the twins asked in disbelief, turning to his brother, who had already disappeared in a streak of lightning.

Sighing to himself, and feeling more useless than he had for days, Sebastian turned his attention back to the giant shark.

 _Never thought I’d think_ that _._

As Barry drew closer - now wearing his Flash suit - the Shark seemed to grin and, boy did that look creepy as hell, Sebastian thought. The shark reached out and grabbed Barry around the throat, before he could move out of his grip.

“Shit,” Sebastian swore, trying to think of something to do.

They needed a distraction. Something that would divert the shark’s attention away from the Flash, long enough for it to loosen its grip on Barry.

Sebastian wasn’t sure it would work. He’d only created an illusion intentionally once, and that had given him a migraine. But he didn’t have a choice. Barry was going to die if he didn’t do _something_.

Taking a deep breath, Sebastian concentrated on imagining red blurs moving around the Shark; making it look like there was another Flash on the scene. It took a few attempts, before he could get to be convincing, but before long, even Sebastian would have been fooled by the trick.

It worked; at least a little. The shark turned his attention away from Barry, long enough to give the light a quick glance, before deciding it wasn’t worth his time.

Before Sebastian could freak out about not having a back up plan, there was a flash of light. The shark shuddered, before dropping to the ground hard enough to rattle the windows of neighbouring buildings.

Standing twenty feet away from where the Shark had been trying to kill Barry, stood a figure in dark jeans and an even darker hooded sweatshirt; the hood of which, was covering his face. In his hand, he was holding the biggest gun Sebastian had seen this side of a movie screen.

Getting to his knees where he had been dropped by the Shark, Barry rubbed his throat in pain. “Thanks,” he said to the stranger. Sebastian couldn’t suppress the wince when he heard that Barry was still distorting his voice; he knew from experience, that could hurt if some’s hand had been around his throat. “I don’t not sure how you did the thing with the light, but it worked.”

Sebastian had to fight to stop himself away guiltily as he heard Barry assume the stranger had create the illusion. Maybe Oliver was right; maybe he should have come clean to Barry earlier about what he could do. That was still convinced he knew what that actually was, but still…

The newcomer reached up and pushed the hood back. “That wasn’t me, Flash,” Harrison Wells stated. “Those were your brother’s powers.”

*


	5. The Darkness And The Light

Turns out, a giant Shark in the middle of the street drew a crowd pretty quickly, even at night. 

They should probably get him out of sight before he woke up from whatever the Wells’ clone had done to him.

Not that any of them had any idea how to deal how to deal the shark. It wasn’t like they could take him back to STAR labs.

“I could call Oliver?” Sebastian suggested, knowing that they really didn’t have any other contacts  who would be able to help them.

Barry tensely nodded his head, before he sped away without another word, taking Harrison Wells with him. 

Sebastian sighed heavily and let his head fall forward. Barry was going to _kill_ him, or at least not talk to him for a few weeks.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, easily finding Oliver’s number amongst his contacts. 

“Hey, Oliver,” he greeted when the call was connected.  “Do you think you have room on Lian Yu for an extra prisoner?”

Oliver was silent through the phone line for a beat, before he replied with, “ I thought you guys had something set up for that kind of thing.”

Sebastian glanced over at the meta-human (was it even a meta-human? He felt like he didn’t even know the difference anymore). “This one’s a bit different,” he admitted.

“How different?” Oliver sounded part intrigued and part confused. 

“Half-man, half-shark.”

On the other end of the line, Oliver let out a low whistle. “That’s… even by Central City’s standards, that’s definitely different ,” he agreed. “ I’m not sure we’d be able to get it to Lian Yu, though. We might struggle getting it through customs.” Sebastian chuckled. “ Let me give Lyla a call. She might be able to set something up with ARGUS.”

Sebastian grinned. “You, Mr Queen, are a lifesaver,” he announced, making the green archer chuckle. Sebastian hesitated for a second, before adding, “Do you remember when you said I should tell Barry about my powers?

Oliver made a noise of agreement and Sebastian continued, “You were right.”

The older man drew in a breath. “What happened?” he asked.

Sebastian sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. “The half man-half shark attacked, and I tried to help. It didn’t go as smoothly as I would have liked,” he confessed. “At least Bar knows now.” He laughed humourlessly.

“What did he say?” Oliver asked.

“Who knows?” Sebastian retorted. “He’s currently not talking to me, and probably won’t be for a few weeks.” Oliver sighed sadly. “Thank you for not saying ‘I told you so’.”

Oliver chuckled. “Sometimes I don’t like being right,” he replied softly. Sebastian could hear the sound of someone speaking in the background, before Oliver turned his attention back to their conversation. “Sorry, Seb, but I need to go.”

Sebastian shook his head automatically, murmuring his assurances that it didn’t matter

“Let me call Lyla,” Oliver continued. “Then you need to speak to Barry.”

The illusionist let out a murmur of unhappiness, and Oliver chuckled. “I’ll call you later, and you better have spoken to him, otherwise I won’t be happy.”

Sebastian groaned and screwed his eyes closed as a bolt of arousal shot through him. “Shit,” he hissed, “don’t say it like _that;_ especially not when I’m in public.” 

Oliver laughed, knowing full well the reaction his ‘in charge’ voice was pulling from Sebastian. “Just talk to your bother, Seb.”

*

Sebastian had to hand it to Oliver, he had mobilised ARGUS quicker than he would have thought possible.

It took less than twenty minutes for a van to arrive at Sebastian’s location, and less than five minutes for the shark to be loaded on board.

Half an hour after the attack, it was like nothing had ever happened.

Knowing that he couldn’t avoid his brother forever, and wanting to know where the hell Wells had come from since he’d seen him disappear, Sebastian hailed a cab and directed it toward STAR Las.

He was so regretting leaving his bike there. Again.

Sebastian made his way slowly through the building, trying to put off the confrontation he knew was coming for as long as possible.

Barry looked up when he heard someone enter the Cortex, but he quickly looked away when he realised it was Sebastian. The younger twin forced down a sigh; Barry could be such a stubborn little bitch sometimes.

At least now, he couldn’t suppress Sebastian when he didn’t want to listen to him speak.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Will you at least let me explain what happened before you exile me to a life of silent treatment?” he snapped at Barry, much to the surprise of Caitlin and Cisco. “Not that I’m complaining. I might actually get peace and quiet then.” He threw himself down into the nearest chair with as much over dramatisation as he was always accused of having.

The speedster’s scowl deepened, but he didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his attention to Wells. “Doctor Caitlin Snow, Cisco Ramon, meet Harrison Wells, from Earth-2.”

Being missed out of his brother’s introductions made Sebastian roll his eyes. “I’m Sebastian, by the way,” he called from across the room, waving his hand at the new comer. “Since my brother is being a childish dick. ”

Barry’s eyes flashed in irritation. “ _I’m_ being a dick?” he echoed. “I wasn’t the one hiding powers from everyone, Sebastian.”

Surprised looks crossed Caitlin and Cisco’s faces as they turned to stare at their friend. “You have powers?” Caitlin breathed, awe intermingling with the confusion.

Sebastian shrugged a shoulder. “Like I was trying to tell _him_ ,” he punctuated the sentence with a glare in Barry’s direction, “I didn’t know for certain. I…”

“As fascinating as this is,” Wells’s voice cut through Sebastian’s sentence. “Perhaps focusing on the matter at hand, instead of arguing like children would be better for everyone?”

Barry looked like he wanted to continue arguing with Sebastian, who was more than willing to go ahead, but eventually he sighed and looked away from his brother. 

Sensing that neither twin was going to say anything that would be helpful at that moment, Cisco moved away from where he had been standing next to Caitlin, observing Wells with a critical eye as he got closer to Barry. “Why are we even listening to him?” he asked in the loudest stage whisper known to man. “How do we know he’s not evil like the other guy?”

“He saved my life earlier,” Barry answered. His eyes flickered over to Sebastian, before he grudgingly admitted, “Seb’s too.”

Sebastian rolled his eyes, and bit the inside of his cheek. He wanted to say something sarcastically, but Barry wasn’t about to give him the opportunity.

“The question is - why,” Barry asked, turning his attention back to Wells. “I don’t think you came all this way, just to meet the Flash.”

“That’s exactly what I did,” Wells argued. “I’ve been looking for you and your brother. From what I saw last night, you’re going to need all the help you can get. Those powers need to be harnessed and controlled immediately, Mr Allen,” he added, glancing over at Sebastian.

Sebastian frowned and got to his feet. “How did you know I have powers?” he asked. 

Wells pursed his lips, irritation obvious on his face. It was clear that he thought they had bigger things to worry about, but he eventually decided that he could spare a few minutes to explain. “You were caught in the same Particle Accelerator explosion, weren’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but…” Sebastian trailed off, throwing a look at Barry helplessly.

Barry smirked in a way that made him look more like Sebastian than normal, before turning serious again and explaining to Wells, “When the particle accelerator exploded, we weren’t in different bodies.” Wells continued looking at him with a blank expression, and he sighed lightly. “Seb and I used to share the same body. We used to be one person.”

Wells’s eyes widened in surprise, before he shook his head. “This Earth is even weirder than I thought,” he mumbled. “Well, regardless of how many bodies the pair of you inhabited, you were both still hit by the particle wave. Barry, you acquired the ability to run at super speeds, while Sebastian gained the power of Hallucikinesis.” He huffed in irritation when they all continued to look at him blankly. “The ability to create illusions like the ones we saw when the Flash was being attacked by the half-man, half-shark creature.”

“We’re calling him King Shark,” Cisco interjected excitedly, using Patrick’s name for the creature and making Barry smile affectionately.

The Earth-2 native rolled his eyes, “I’m not calling him that,” he stated, and Cisco pouted. Wells turned back to Sebastian. “You will need to train before you face Zoom. So that you will be prepared and can actually be of use in battle.”

His words immediately got Barry’s attention and he shook his head. “He is not facing Zoom!” he argued, drawing a glare from his brother. “Oh, stop looking at me like that,” he muttered. “We’ve already had this discussion. I am not losing you, Sebastian. I can’t lose you,” his voice cracked a little on the last part.

Across the room, Wells huffed. “As touching as this is, we don’t have time for sentimentality. Zoom won’t care that you don’t want to lose your bother. He will only see that connection as a weakness and exploit it to use it against you. The more you train, the better you will both become and the more chance we will have at defeating him once and for all.”

Wells nodded. “After everything I found out about you, there was no way you couldn’t not. The only problem is that you’re untrained with them. You need to learn how to control them. That’s why I’m here,” Wells glanced over at Barry, “to help both of you stop Zoom.”

*

Everyone knowing he had super powers apparently didn’t mean that Sebastian could get out of going to work.

He had tried to stay at STAR labs, and Wells had been on his side, but Barry had finished his silent treatment for five minutes to tell Sebastian that he needed to go to work, before he had started shutting him out again.

Sebastian had resisted for another few minutes, but eventually he had decided that he needed to get out of there. Barry was an expert at giving Sebastian the silent treatment; it actually made a refreshing change for Sebastian, that Barry couldn’t silence him completely this time.

Being at work, when everyone else was back at STAR labs was driving Sebastian up the wall. He hated being bored at the best of times, and usually when he was _bored_ it was never a good thing. He had a history of doing some pretty sketchy things when he was bored, and he usually ended up getting himself (and Barry) in trouble.

He had been at work for almost half an hour, and Sebastian was almost ready to go back to STAR Labs and submit himself Caitlin’s tests and Wells’ training.

For the last ten minutes, he had been spinning his chair around aimlessly, trying to stop himself from dying of boredom; regardless of Barry liked to insist, Sebastian was positive it was _possible_ to pass away from lack of doing… ‘stuff’.

Sebastian paused in his spinning when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Abandoning his activity, Sebastian refocused himself on the staircase. 

Barry had apparently left STAR labs as well, Sebastian realised. He and Patrick were standing at the top of the stairs, far closer than Sebastian had ever seen them before. From where he was sitting, Sebastian couldn’t hear what they were saying, but that was easily rectified.

Slowly so he didn’t draw their attention, Sebastian slid his chair over to the other side of the reception - closer to where Barry and Patrick were standing.

“Do you ever feel completely overwhelmed by everything that you have to do in a day, and it feels like the one thing that you actually want to do is the thing that gets lost?” Barry rambled.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. He had known his brother their entire lives, and even he couldn’t have begun to understand what Barry had just said to Patrick. Seriously, Barry had seen Sebastian flirt with more men than he could remember; why the hell had none of it sunk into the other man’s mind.

For his part, Patrick didn’t seem to know what Barry was talking about, either. The police officer screwed his nose up a little in way that, even Sebastian had to admit was cute; not that Sebastian was interested in him - he had his sights set on a certain dark haired former Warbler.

“I’m confused,” Patrick admitted. “What?”

Barry sighed and ran a hand over the back of his neck. He was clearly irritated with himself. “I’ve been thinking - for a while now, actually; would you like to get dinner with me sometime?”

Sebastian bit the inside of his cheek, to stop himself from crowing with happiness when those words came out of Barry’s mouth.

For so long, Barry had been afraid to even think about being with another man. Sebastian could count on one hand the number of times he had heard Barry admit to being gay out loud. 

Personally, he didn’t know what the big deal was. Sebastian had always known he preferred the male form, over any woman he had ever seen. He had never been afraid to admit that he was gay; in fact he had embraced his homosexuality and owned it. 

Hearing Barry asking Patrick out, Sebastian felt oddly proud of his big brother.

A brilliant grin slowly spread across Patrick’s face, before he frowned for a second. “This isn’t going to be one of those things where I get all excited and you end up cancelling at the last minute, is it?”

Barry let out a short laugh of surprise and shook his head. “No, no, it’s not,” he swore with so much sincerity that Sebastian almost believed him. “Are you free tomorrow? We can grab an early dinner, at work?”

Silently, Sebastian nodded in approval. Early dinners meant time for drinks afterward and, in Sebastian’s experience, that usually led to sex; lots and lots of sex all night.

“Sounds perfect,” Patrick answered, drawing a grin from Barry. 

The pair agreed that they would see each other after work, before saying goodbye and heading up the stairs.

Barry watched Patrick go - clearly checking out his ass as he went, Sebastian spotted - before he turned and practically bounced down the stairs.

The speedster paused when he reached Sebastian’s desk. Sebastian grinned widely when Barry realised he was being watched, and the other man scowled. For a moment, Sebastian thought he was going to ignore him like he had been since finding out about his powers.

To his surprise, Barry paused at Sebastian’s desk and rolled his eyes. “Go on,” he said with a sigh, waving his hand. “I know you’re dying to something. Get it out of your system now.”

For a moment, Sebastian didn’t know what his brother was talking about, but then he broke into a grin. “I wasn’t going to say anything,” he lied. Barry scoffed and rolled his eyes. “But if I _did_ , it would probably be along the lines of… _Can you feel the love tonight_?” Sebastian softly crooned.

Barry rolled his eyes. “Please don’t make this a big deal, Seb,” he begged, resting his elbows on the desk and leaning forward.

Sebastian held his hands up in surrender. “What’s gotten into you, anyway?” he asked. “You’re the last person I would have expected to ask someone out on a date.”

Barry’s cheeks coloured. “You’re the one who’s always telling me to go after what I want,” he muttered.

The younger of the twins laughed. “I didn’t think you’d actually take my advice,” Sebastian admitted. “God knows you never have before now.”

Barry laughed along with him. “Well, you know what they say; there’s a first time for everything, right?”

*

Being blinded by a meta-human who could fire concentrated light beams was as painful as it sounded.

Looking back, Barry should have realised that a meta with the name Doctor Light, would have had the power to blind him, but never let it be said that Barry was actually clever.

He didn’t know how he had managed it, but Barry had managed to navigate his way back to STAR labs to be examined by Caitlin, who had announced that, yes, he was officially blind.

Something Barry was pretty sure he had been able to figure out on his own.

What he didn’t know was, how long it would take to get his sight back. He couldn’t very well be the Flash if he couldn’t see the people he was rescuing or the meta’s he was fighting.

“How long is this going to last?” Barry grumbled, screwing his eyes closed and opening them again in the vain hope that it would fix his problems and they could move one as if nothing had ever happened.

It didn’t work.

He heard Caitlin hum from where she was standing in front of him.

“You’re suffering from solar retinopathy,” she answered. “Your retina are severely damaged,” she added, and Barry just knew it was because Sebastian had given her a blank look from where he was on the other side of the room. The other meta (and boy did that feel weird to think) had arrived at STAR labs just before Barry had when his shift at CCPD had finished.

“You’re lucky you’re not permanently blind,” Caitlin said, turning her attention back to Barry.

Jay, who was on the opposite side of the room to Sebastian (they really didn’t trust each other), jumped in with, “Your enhanced healing with speed up the recovery process, but it’s still going to take time to heal fully.”

Barry scowled. Time. He was sick of everything taking time. He didn’t have the luxury of time; Zoom was coming for him now, whether he had the time for it, or not. Doctor Light was a prime example of that. “How long?” he asked, already dreading the answer.

“6.25 hours by my estimation,” Harry answered for Caitlin from somewhere to Barry’s right. “None of this would have happened if you’d just stopped Light, instead of chit-chatting with him.”

Barry scowled, and was about to jump to his defence; how was he supposed to know that trying to convince Light to help them would end up so badly.

Before he could get a chance to defend himself, Jay jumped in on his behalf. “He caught Barry off guard.”

Harry scoffed. “That sounds like another excuse. But, then, that’s par for the course with you isn’t it, Garrick?” he retorted, making everyone in the room sigh. Barry had hoped they’d gotten the argument out of their systems earlier, but apparently they were more than content to carry it on. “He’s the fastest man alive, how could Light have ‘caught him off guard’?”

Barry knew how it had happened. He had pulled off Doctor Light’s mask and seen a face he hadn’t expected to recognise underneath. “Because,” he began with a sigh, knowing that he couldn’t put off telling the truth any longer, “Doctor Light looks just like Seb’s ex-boyfriend.”

Sebastian gasped in surprise. “Li?” Barry nodded, and Sebastian explained who he was talking about to Jay and Harry who had obviously never met the reporter. “Li Park; he’s a reporter a CCPN. We dated for a while last year.”

“That’s why Zoom sent him,” Jay announced. He didn’t sound like he was surprised by Sebastian’s revelation that he’d dated men - but, then again, most people weren’t when they found out about the younger twin’s sexuality; it wasn’t exactly like he kept the truth hidden. He was out and proud and had been for almost half his life.

Besides, Barry reasoned with himself, Jay had been following them around for months. He probably already knew before they told him.

“He knew you’d be distracted, Barry,” Jay continued, “and hesitate. You need to act _now_ before Zoom sends another double from your life.”

Barry pursed his lips as he thought about what Jay was saying. It made sense that he shouldn’t wait around for Zoom to attack him, but there was no way he was prepared enough to launch a counter attack against a speedster who was already so much faster than he was.

“How is he supposed to do that?” Sebastian snapped before Barry could think of a reply. “He’s nowhere near fast enough yet, and in case you didn’t notice - he’s currently blind.”

Jay clicked his tongue in irritation. “That will wear off. We need to-,”

Barry quickly got to his feet, swaying a little as blood rushed to his head, and cut off their argument. “Can we save the arguing for later?” he asked, letting his irritation bleed into his voice. “Right now, I’m more concerned with Li than Zoom.” He sighed and sat back down again. “When I saw who was under the mask, I reacted automatically. I said Li’s name.”

He paused for a second, before continuing, “What if Light didn’t realise he had a doppelgänger here?”

Sebastian drew in a sharp breath. “The first thing Atom Smasher did was destroy his,” he whispered. “We need to make sure Li’s safe - our Li, that is.”

“I’ll go,” Barry volunteered himself automatically, getting to his feet again - thankfully without swaying this time.

HIs brother laughed as footsteps moved closer. “How are you supposed to do that, Steve Wonder?” he asked. Barry felt his brother’s hands on his shoulders, before he was steered down the ramp that the original Wells had used for his wheelchair. 

“I’ll go,” Sebastian continued, guiding Barry over to a chair and forcefully making him sit down, even though his tried to resist. “You stay here and.. keep your eyes closed, or something. Maybe it’ll make them better?”

Barry laughed and shook his head. “I’m not sure it works like that, Seb,” he pointed out. “Just be careful, okay? I don’t want a phone call from Joe saying you’ve been-,” He broke off when he felt horror flood through him as he realised what he had forgotten earlier. “Crap,” he muttered.

“What?” Sebastian asked urgently, clearly thinking there was something majorly wrong with his twin.

The speedster groaned and put his hands over his face. “This literally couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Barry complained. “What am I going to do about Patrick?” he asked, looking in - what he hoped was his brother’s general direction.

“Who’s Patrick?’ Caitlin asked, sounding both confused and intrigued at the same time.

Sebastian chuckled, clearly realising what Barry was thinking. “Joe’s partner. Bar, has a date with him… in about an hour,” he answered, and damn him for sounding so amused. 

“A date I’m going to have to cancel,” Barry corrected, not able to keep the petulance out of his voice. He had been looking forward to seeing Patrick outside of work; it was just typical that his plans had to get ruined by a meta-human. It was the story of his life, really. 

Sebastian scoffed. “Oh no, you’re not,” he argued. “I’ve invested too much time in this relationship, to let you back out now.”

Barry frowned. “What are you talking about?” he snapped.

“Do you think snooping through your stuff is easy when we don’t share the same body anymore?” the younger twin replied. “You’re going to go on your date. Well,” he corrected himself, “ _I’m_ going to go on your date. Jay can head to CCPN and keep an eye on LI.”

Silence followed his announcement, before Barry was the first to break it. “You’re going to pretend to be me?” he asked incredulously.

“What? Like it’s hard?” Sebastian laughed. “It’s not the first time I’ve pretended to be you. Compared to some of the things you’ve made me do in the past, a date with a pretty boy is going to be a walk in the park.”

Barry’s eyes narrowed, even though he couldn’t actually see his brother, he imagined himself glaring daggers at his twin. “You are _not_ sleeping with my… whatever Patrick is, Seb!” he hissed.

Sebastian just laughed. “Calm down,” he mocked. “I don’t want to sleep with him, anyway. Besides, I don’t put out on a first date.”

This time it was Barry’s turn to laugh and he shook his head. “Since when?” he retorted, before turning serious again. “Are you sure about this, Seb? I can just cancel; it’ll be easiest thing to do.”

He felt two hands hand on his shoulders, and instinctively knew they were Sebastian’s. “I’m positive,” Sebastian whispered. “Trust me; I’ll leave him wanting more than a date.”

“You’re not helping me believe that you’re not going to sleep with him, Sebastian!” Barry snapped, using his brother’s full name to get his point across fully.

Sebastian just laughed, which - oddly enough - still didn’t make Barry feel any better.

*

The worst thing about pretending to be Barry, was having to wear his brother’s clothes, Sebastian thought. 

When they had been separated, the bodies they had been left with were identical down to the last inch (yes, Sebastian had measured himself as soon as he’d been left alone). This meant that they could get aware with sharing clothes, just like any other sibling, and there was no worry the clothes wouldn’t fit.

Not that Sebastian would ever voluntarily borrow any of Barry’s clothes. His brother had seriously different taste to Sebastian, and the younger of the twins would generally never be seen dead in the stuff Barry wore.

Seriously, his brother owed him big time.

Barry had moved into his new flat almost a month earlier, and Sebastian had stolen one of the spare keys almost immediately. Barry had insisted that he had been planning on giving him one, anyway. But Sebastian didn’t believe him, and had taken one for himself.

He wasn’t about to let Barry try keep secrets from him for the first time in their lives. 

After letting himself in, it had only taken Sebastian ten minutes to scramble together a decent enough looking outfit from his brother’s closet (smart jeans and a white button down shirt, paired with a pair of black converse to dress it down a little), and after the quickest shower he had ever taken, Sebastian had been on his way to the restaurant Barry had directed him to.

Patrick was already waiting for him when Sebastian arrived; score one for the punctuality - not that it really made a difference with Barry who was perpetually late for everything. 

He was dressed similar to Sebastian - only his shirt was a deep maroon colour. Good, at least Sebastian hadn’t misjudged how dressy the restaurant was.

When he saw Sebastian heading in his direction, Patrick grinned and got to his feet. So he was a gentleman as well? Another point in the win column.

“Hey,” the police officer greeted when Sebastian was a few feet away from the table.

Sebastian returned the smile with one of his own and he couldn’t resist leaning in to press a kiss of greeting against Patrick’s cheek. Patrick didn’t pull away quickly or avert his eyes, and Sebastian added another point. He wasn’t closeted or afraid to be affectionate in public.

Seriously, this was getting better and better for his brother.

“Sorry I’m late,” Sebastian said, sliding down into the chair opposite Patrick as he took his own again. he wasn’t late; Sebastian didn’t do late, but he felt like he needed to keep up the pretence. There was no way Barry would be on time.

Patrick grinned back at him. “You’re not late,” he assured Sebastian. “I actually judge my dates based on whether or not they actually show up, so you’re a step ahead of most people.”

Sebastian felt his eyes bug out of his head at the other man’s words. “Stand you up?” he couldn’t help blurting out. “How is that even possible?”

Even if Sebastian didn’t have his sights set on a certain raven haired former Warbler, turned architect for Central City Building Developers, there’s no way in hell anyone with a lick of sense would stand Patrick up.

Patrick’s cheeks coloured adorably and he glanced down shyly, before looking back up at Sebastian. “Beats me,” he murmured.

*

 _Your date with Patrick went perfect and he’ll be calling you in a few days to arrange another one_.

Sebastian sent the message to his brother as soon as he had stepped away from Patrick and the restaurant. He had no desire to head back to STAR labs to relay the information, so had chosen to update Barry via text.

While he was waiting for a reply, Sebastian text Blaine to ask where he was working and whether he was going to be done soon.

The illusionist received a reply from Blaine before Barry, who told him that he was working on a project a few blocks away form the restaurant and would be done in about twenty minutes.

Sebastian had just replied that he would meet him out front, when Barry’s response to his message came through.

_I know I’m going to regret this, but I owe you one, Seb. Thank you!_

There was a pause, before another message came through from Barry.

_BTW, Cisco has powers as well._

Sebastian’s eyes widened and he immediately called Barry. “What?” he asked as soon as the call connected.

“Yeah,” Barry replied. “Apparently Harry knew about his powers all along, just like he did with yours.”

“What?” Sebastian repeated himself, feeling his breath rush out of him at Barry’s words. He had never imagined that Cisco could have powers as well.

Barry chuckled humourlessly. “Yeah,” he replied, “apparently he gets visions of things that have happened and he can get them while things are happening as well. “

Sebastian let out an amazed whistle, hardly able to believe what he was listening to. “How long has he known?” he questioned.

“Since before the singularity,” Barry answered. “It doesn’t matter, though,” he added with a sigh. “We’ve got bigger things to worry about.”

The younger twin echoed Barry’s sigh; he just knew that the speedster was going to ask Sebastian to come back to STAR labs.

To his surprise, Barry continued with, “I’ll text you if anything happens during the night, but you might as well head home. No point in us all being here when we don’t need to be.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened and he couldn’t help asking, “Are you sure?” even though he wanted nothing more than to agree with Barry and head home - well, to Blaine’s preferably.

“Positive,” Barry replied. “We’re just sitting around, watching out for meta human attacks. There’s no point in all of us being awake all night.”

At that moment, Blaine stepped out of the building Sebastian had just arrived at and flashed him a grin, which Sebastian readily returned.

“Cheers, Bar,” Sebastian answered. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Barry agreed and they said their goodbyes, before Sebastian cancelled the call and turned his attention to Blaine. 

“Hey,” Sebastian greeted, his grin widening as Blaine grew closer. He frowned when he realised that Blaine’s eyes were wide with surprise. “What’s wrong?” he asked, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

Blaine finally came to a stop in front of Sebastian. “Whose clothes are you wearing?” he asked.

Sebastian let out a laugh and rolled his eyes. “Barry’s,” he answered, linking his arm through Blaine’s as they started walking down the street. 

When Blaine looked at him questioningly, he shook his head - there was no way he was going to tell Blaine he had just come from a date with his brother’s boyfriend. That was just too confusing.

“It’s a long - boring - story, but Barry double booked himself and couldn’t get out of either appointment,” Sebastian half-lied.

Blaine laughed and shook his head. “Bright side of being almost identical twins, I suppose.”

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. “Almost?” he echoed. “I’m pretty confident there’s no differences between the two of us.”

Blaine grinned and tilted his head to the side. “I’ll beg to differ,” he argued. “When you smile, you get these little lines around your eyes; Barry doesn’t.”

Sebastian laughed. “Are you saying I’ve got wrinkles, Anderson?”

The other man echoed his laugh. “I think it’s cute,” he confessed, coming to a stop as they reached Blaine’s apartment building.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, before Blaine finally broke the silence that had settled over them.

“Can I ask a question?” he asked. Sebastian raised a questioning eyebrow and slowly nodded his head; not a hundred percent sure he actually wanted to hear what Blaine was going to say. His heart was pounding in his chest and he felt like he could barely breath. He hated feeling so uncertain. “When are you going to kiss me?”

Sebastian’s eyes widened at the bluntness of the question. “What?” he spluttered, not quite sure he was able to believe what he had just heard.

Blaine rolled his eyes and took a step forward. With his head held high, and shoulders back, he looked every bit the confident Warbler the other’s had told him about back at Dalton; the stories which had gotten Sebastian enthralled even before he had ever even laid eyes on Blaine. 

“We’ve been dancing around each other for weeks now and, I know you’re trying to give me space to get over my relationship with Kurt, but honestly? I’m bored of waiting for you.”

Without another word, Blaine closed the remaining space between them and pressed their lips together. 

Sebastian gasped in surprise and his eyes fluttered closed. He wasn’t going to lie - even to himself - he had been dreaming about kissing Blaine for a very long time, but the fantasies didn’t even come close to comparing to the reality.

There was no way Sebastian had that good an imagination.

*


	6. Enter Zoom

Over the years, Barry had developed a routine to help him get through his day in one piece and to make sure he didn’t end up forgetting something major.

He had needed to change said routine over the years - namely when he had woken up with super powers nine months after being struck by lightning - but generally, Barry was still following the same set of instructions he had set for himself as a teenager.

Whenever there was a new meta-human in town, Barry needed to rejig his schedule and it always threw him. Something in his life ended up suffering, and it was usually his work at CCPD that ended up taking a back seat.

Now, with Doctor Light locked in the pipeline, and the other’s manning the computers at STAR labs, Barry had decided he was going to do the work he had been neglecting at the police station.

But he hadn’t managed to stop thinking about their meta problem and what they were going to do with Zoom. There was no way Light was going to help them; he was too determined and afraid of Zoom to be an asset.

Barry didn’t know what they were going to do and his old enemy (time, again) was starting to catch up with them again. It wouldn’t be long before Zoom made his move again, everyone knew it, but no one was willing to address the pink elephant in the room.

He glanced up sharply when he heard a knock on the door, afraid that it was Singh who had caught him day dreaming. Barry let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was Patrick looking at him curiously.

“Am I interrupting?” Patrick asked, flashing Barry a smile.

They hadn’t really been alone since Sebastian had pretended to be him the previous day. Someone had always managed to find an excuse to be in the same room as them, so they hadn’t really had chance to talk about what had happened.

Not that Barry really knew himself, since he hadn’t had chance to speak to Sebastian yet, either. He had tried calling his brother close to midnight to ask the night before, but his brother hadn’t answered his phone.

Part of Barry had been worried about his brother - with Zoom around, he liked to think he was entitled to - but the rest of him was pretty sure he knew what Sebastian was doing, and if it was the latter of the two, it certainly explained why Sebastian hadn’t answered his phone.

Forcing himself to focus on actually answering Patrick’s question, Barry snorted and shook his head. “I’d have to actually be doing something for you to interrupt,” he answered honestly, finally giving up the pretence and turning his attention back to Patrick.

Patrick chuckled and stepped further into the room. “Well, I think we should find something for you to do,” he replied, a smile curling the corners of his mouth. “I’d hate for you to get in trouble with the Captain.”

Barry couldn’t help himself - he laughed loudly. “Oh, trust me, I’ve been in trouble with him plenty of times in the past,” he replied without thinking about what he was saying. Patrick frowned and tilted his head to the side curiously. “He and Sebastian don’t exactly see eye to eye,” Barry explained.

He didn’t add that usually when Singh and Sebastian had been at each other’s throats, it had been while he and Barry shared a body. That would have raised far too many questions; more than Barry was willing to answer - he didn’t want to scare Patrick away so early into the relationship.

“What do you think we could do to distract ourselves?” Barry asked, feeling more flirtatious than he ever had in the past. Maybe Sebastian had rubbed off on him more than they had initially thought, he wondered.

A mischievous glint appeared in Patrick’s eyes and Barry couldn’t help wondering what was running through the police officer’s mind. He didn’t need to worry for too long, before Patrick said, “We could always pick up where we left off?”

Barry frowned, trying to think what Patrick could be talking about. Luckily for him, the other man was more than willing to explain himself without Barry needing to make himself look like a fool.

“That kiss was pretty spectacular,” Patrick stated.

The speedster had to force himself to not act shocked at those words, seconds before Patrick bent down and pressed their lips together in their first - second - kiss.

Barry was going to _kill_ Sebastian.

*

“You need to concentrate.”

Sebastian inhaled deeply and curled his fingers into a fist. He desperately wanted to cross the room and punch Harrison Wells 2.0 square in the jaw.

“I. Am. Trying.”

He had been pulled out of bed rather abruptly a little after six that morning, and Sebastian had been in a foul mood ever since. Last night had been… as close to perfect as Sebastian had ever experienced.

Certainly, spending the night with Blaine Anderson was more than Sebastian had thought he would ever get and the reality had been so much better than the fantasies (of which he’d had a lot).

Sebastian had been planning on having a lazy morning with his boyfriend - maybe it was too early to call Blaine that, he thought to himself - and, after throwing in a bit of early morning sex, head into work at CCPD.

Harry had clearly decided that wasn’t going to happen, and he was going to take Sebastian’s training into his own hands. Whether Sebastian liked it, or not.

The rational part of Sebastian knew that Harry was right - he needed to figure out his powers sooner rather than later. The irrational part of Sebastian had imagined striding over to the other man and stabbing him a few times. Just because he could.

“Clearly you are not, otherwise you would have succeeded in creating and holding a solid illusion already,” Wells retorted, sounding just as irritated as Sebastian felt.

Good. Let him suffer as well.

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Did it ever occur to you that, maybe I might need more than _one_ day to become a master magician?” he snapped.

Wells pursed his lips. “Magic doesn’t exist, Mr Allen,” he stated, repeating the words he had been saying for the better part of three hours. “What you do, is use the electrical particles in the air around you to create illusions.” He paused, before adding, “At least you could, if you actually focused.”

He said something else, but Sebastian didn’t hear the end of the sentence. 

Without another word, and with as much drama as he could muster, Sebastian turned on his heel and stalked out of the training area. He couldn’t listen to the other man for a single second longer. Sebastian was pretty sure he was about to snap, and then they all be screwed.

Sebastian stormed down the corridor, clenching his fists at his side as he walked. He hated people talking to him like he was stupid, and it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t get a handle on these new powers.

Hell, he hadn’t even known they were actually real until the whole incident with King Shark; he had genuinely thought he was losing his mind.

Caitlin looked up when Sebastian stomped into the cortex. She smiled knowingly. “Harry driving you mad?” she asked, pushing herself away from the desk a little and crossing her legs.

Sebastian came to a stop in the centre of the cortex and forced himself to take a breath. It wasn’t Caitlin he was mad at; she didn’t deserve to be the focus of his anger. “I don’t know what his problem is,” Sebastian retorted when he could speak without sounding furious. “He’s worse that the original Wells.”

“He’s just trying to help,” Caitlin soothed, getting to her feet and moving around to Sebastian. “Harry knows that you need to figure your powers out quickly; he just has a… crappy way of teaching.”

Sebastian snorted and shook his head, feeling some of the tension ease from his body. “You can say that again,” he muttered.

Caitlin chuckled and squeezed his shoulder. “I think I have something that will make you feel better.” Sebastian raised an eyebrow at the suggestiveness of her words, and she shook her head, her cheeks a little flushed. “You know I didn’t mean _that_ ,” she chided, swatting gently at his shoulder.

He laughed and offered her a reproachful smile, making her smile affectionately at him as she headed over to where Barry’s Flash suit was kept.

“These came for you while you were training with Harry,” Caitlin said, turning back to face him with two packages in her hands; one larger than the other. “I was keeping them for when you were finished, in the hope that they would cheer you up.”

Sebastian raised a questioning eyebrow as he took the packages from her. They were post marked Star City, he quickly realised.

“I think they’re from a certain green Archer you know,” Caitlin said knowingly, drawing a laugh from Sebastian.

Wordlessly, he opened the larger of the two packages, before gasping in surprise. Inside the box, nestled in white tissue paper was a deep blue suit, similar to Oliver’s. “Oh, wow,” he breathed, pulling out the jacket.

Caitlin echoed his statement as he shrugged out of the sweatshirt he was wearing, handing it to her to hold, before pulling the jacket on and zipping it up, easily fastening the three clasps which decorated the front.

“This is awesome!” Sebastian exclaimed, grabbing the gloves and sliding one of them on. It was perfect and fit like a… well, a glove. “What do you think?” he asked, looking over at Caitlin.

The doctor smiled brightly at him, even as she reached into the box, pulling out something Sebastian hadn’t even noticed. A matching blue mask. 

Carefully, she reached up and slipped the mask over his head, resting it gently on his cheekbones where it sat perfectly.

“I think you look like a hero,” she replied, putting Sebastian’s hood up for him.

Sebastian grinned in response, before turning his attention back to the second package. Now that he knew what was in the first one, he couldn’t wait to find out what else Oliver had sent him.

With the enthusiasm of a kid on Christmas morning, Sebastian pulled open the second present and let out another gasp of surprise when he saw what it was.

A crossbow.

Unlike his suit, with this one there was a note on top of the weapon. A note from Oliver.

_Seb, I had the suit made the day after you told me about your powers. I knew you’d take my advice and be a superhero one day. As for the crossbow, I wanted to give you something you could easily defend yourself with if your powers ever failed you; and you don’t strike me as a bow and arrow kind of guy. Love, Ollie x_

“This is awesome,” Sebastian gushed, taking the weapon out of the box and carefully examining it. “I think I’ll go practice on Harry,” he announced.

Caitlin laughed and shook her head. “You don’t really mean that,” she argued, rolling her eyes when Sebastian raised a challenging eyebrow. “I do think Oliver is right, though,” the doctor said. “You do need something other than your powers to defend yourself with. I think a crossbow is perfect for Sapphire Illusion.”

Sapphire Illusion. 

Sebastian couldn’t help raising an eyebrow at those words.

Caitlin flushed, and averted her eyes. “I know, that sucks. I think I’ll leave the naming to Cisco.”

“No!” Sebastian exclaimed. “I… I like it,” he answered honestly, making Caitlin beam at him response.

They both looked up when they heard footsteps enter the cortex and saw Barry enter the room, with Li right behind him; making Sebastian feel grateful for the hood and mask he was still wearing. Li would have recognised him immediately otherwise.

It was impossible to tell under the cowl he was wearing, but Sebastian was pretty sure his brother had raised an eyebrow. “That’s different,” Barry said, using his speed to vibrate his vocal chords and disguise his voice from Li.

Sebastian opened his mouth to reply, before he realised that there was no way Li wouldn’t recognise _his_ voice. 

Caitlin seemed to realise what was running through Sebastian’s mind, because she held up a finger and ran over to Cisco’s work station. From where they were standing, none of them could see what she was doing. Eventually, she returned back to Sebastian and wordlessly attached something to the collar of his jacket.

“Try that,” she instructed, taking a step back to admire her handiwork.

Sebastian didn’t see how it was going to work, but he decided to trust his friend and respond to Barry. 

“A present from the Green Arrow,” Sebastian replied, his voice completely disguised by the modulator Caitlin had fitted. “Wow,” he said. “Thanks.”

Caitlin beamed proudly. “Cisco’s not the only one who knows tech,” she pointed out, making Barry and Sebastian both chuckle.

Where he was standing beside Barry, Li shifted, tugging nervously at the sleeves of the jacket he was wearing. “You know the Star City vigilante?” he asked, before rolling his eyes at himself. “What am I talking about, of course you do.”

His eyes fell on Sebastian. “Who are you?” he asked bluntly, before wincing. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that to sound as rude as it did.”

Sebastian chuckled, but it was Caitlin who answered for him. “Li Park, meet Central City’s newest superhero, Sapphire Illusion.”

The illusionist felt his cheeks colour in embarrassment as Li’s eyes widened, and he was suddenly glad he had a hood covering his face.

Barry wasn’t able to disguise his surprise as easily, when his mouth fell open in response to her words, before he recovered and turned their attention back to the matter at hand. Namely their problem with Doctor Light.

“We’re going to train Mr Park to use Doctor Light’s things, and he’s going to help us trick and catch Zoom,” Barry informed Sebastian and Caitlin, as though he wasn’t saying the most ludicrous thing in the world. 

Without another word, Barry stepped away from Li and moved closer to Sebastian. “And when all this is over, we’re going to have a talk about _you_ making out with _my_ boyfriend.”

Sebastian couldn’t help letting out a laugh at his words. “It was a quick peck on the lips,” he retorted. “Hate to break it to you, but that’s not exactly what I’d call making out.” He cackled - actually cackled - and grinned at his brother. “By the way, you’re aware you called him your boyfriend, right?”

“You actually said that out loud.”

The look Barry shot him from behind his own mask made Sebastian immensely grateful his twin hadn’t figured out how to shoot lightning from his eyes.

Sebastian would have been barbecued for sure.

*

Li was sitting on the couch in Joe West’s house, in the dark. He would be the first to admit that he was feeling sorry for himself.

He had known from the start that he would never be able to pull of what the Flash wanted from him. Li had never been good at acting, and acting like a bad guy? That was so far outside of his comfort zone it wasn’t even funny.

Li started when he heard the familiar whooshing sound he was starting to associate with the Flash’s arrival.

“Look,” he said, not giving the meta human time to speak, “I’m sorry I’m a terrible super villain. I don’t need you to come here and make me feel worse. Trust me, I’m doing enough of that for the both of us.”

The Flash shook his head. “That’s not why I’m here,” he argued, still disguising his voice to keep his identity hidden.

Li scoffed. “Doesn’t matter anyway. I couldn’t do it. I don’t have it in me.”

In the dim light Li could see the Flash’s mouth turn down in a frown. “That’s not true,” the speedster argued. “You’re one of the strongest men I’ve ever met. You can do anything.”

The reporter laughed and rolled his eyes. He sounded so sure; the Flash was so confident that Li could do everything that was asked of him and more. But, Li didn’t care what he thought; he was wrong. There was nothing spectacular about him, and tonight had just proved what he had known all along.

He wasn’t meant to be anything more than a reporter for CCPN.

“And you know that, based on what?” Li challenged.

For a moment, Li could see the Flash struggling with himself, before he apparently came to a decision. “Li,” he began, “you’re trusting me and that means a lot. The least I can do is trust you as well.”

Without another word, the Flash reached up and pushed his cowl back.

This was it; this was what every reporter wanted to know. Who the Flash really was under the mask once and for all.

“I know you can do this,” the Flash continued, no longer disguising his voice, “because I _know_ you, Li.”

Li’s first thought when he saw who was under the mask was _Sebastian,_ but he quickly corrected himself. Sebastian wasn’t real; he was an alter ego Barry had created to keep himself safe from bullies. 

“Barry?” Li whispered, suddenly glad he was sitting down. “Holy crap! I slept with the Flash!” he exclaimed.

Barry let out a sharp laugh, before the sound of movement got their attention from the door. Sapphire Illusion was watching them from behind his blue mask; Li hadn’t even heard him enter the house.

“Actually,” the other man said, switching off _his_ voice modulator and reaching up to push his own hood down, “that would have been me.”

There was another Barry. Li was looking at two copies of his ex-boyfriend; both of whom looked completely identical.

“I’m Sebastian,” the clone introduced himself, offering Li a small smile.

It was the smile itself that convinced Li he was looking at _his_ version of the duplicates. Li knew he would recognise that lop-sided grin anywhere. “You lied to me,” Li stated. “When you said that Sebastian was an alter ego you created.”

The Flash - Barry - winced. “Not completely,” he corrected Li. “At the time we didn’t know what was going on. All our lives, we’ve lived in the same body; neither of us knew that we were supposed to be our own people until last year.”

Li was dreaming. He had to be. There was no way he could be speaking to someone who claimed to once share a body with someone who looked completely identical to him.

“Just when you think this city couldn’t get any weirder,” Li whispered in disbelief.

*


	7. Gorilla Warfare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Barry spiralling further into depression, and after their attempts to pull him out of it fail, Iris and Sebastian call for reinforcements in an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ** If you have previously been following this story, but haven't read it since circa 31 August 2016, please read the comments on the first chapter, before continuing **

_Pain._

_All Barry could feel was pain. More than he had ever felt in his life._

_Logically, Barry had known immediately that Zoom had broken his back as soon as it had happened. There was no way anyone - not even a meta human - could take a blow like that without suffering a broken back._

_He was a dead man. There was no way Zoom was going to let Barry live now that he had been incapacitated._

_Zoom was going to kill him and take his speed as a trophy._

_The dark speedster raised his hand, already vibrating too fast to see, and positioned it inches away from Barry’s heart._

*

Barry jolted awake seconds before Zoom’s vibrating hand had torn through his chest, crushing his heart.

It was only a dream, he realised, taking in deep breaths as he tried to regulate his heart.

Zoom hadn’t killed him. He’d broken Barry’s back in front of his friends, but he hadn’t killed him.

The evil speedster had left him, crumpled in a pile on the floor, unable to follow or even move due to his injury.

That had been two days ago, and Barry had been trying to figure out the black costumed figure’s motives ever since. It made no sense to Barry to leave him alive, and he hadn’t been able to wrap his head around any of the theories which had formulated.

Jay had speculated at Zoom more than likely wanted to show Barry what he could take away, before challenging him officially and finishing him off.

As much as Barry didn’t want to admit it, he had a feeling Jay was right.

Not that it made a difference. His body wasn’t healing as fast as it should. With any other injury, Barry would have already been cured and running around the city, saving people from meta-humans again.

Instead, he had been confined to a wheelchair, only able to walk six steps at a time, before he couldn’t do it any more.

Caitlin had tried to convince him that six steps was progress, and that most people would have either died from Barry’s injuries or been paralysed for life. 

It didn’t feel like progress to Barry.

All he knew was that, every time he took a step forward to getting faster, something knocked him back and he was back where started. Just as slow as ever, and ready to take another beating.

Due to his injuries, Barry had been forced to move back into Joe and Sebastian’s. There was no way his body would have been able to handle the three stories he had to walk up to in order to reach his apartment - moving into a building without an elevator had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Barry hated being dependant on other people. After months of not being able to rely on Sebastian whenever something got a little scary, having to admit that he needed his brothers help, was a shock to the system.

The sooner he was healed, the sooner everything could go back to normal and they could all get back on with their lives.

*

_Two Days Later_

“He’s getting worse, Seb.”

Sebastian sighed and shut off the engine of his bike. He had been worried something like this was going to happen. Barry had only just managed to find the confidence he usually relied on Sebastian for. After his fight with Zoom, he’d reverted back to his old self; with an added dose of Sebastian’s attitude for good measure.

“I’ll try talk to him,” he assured his sister, climbing off the bike and glancing up at the house. “But I doubt he’s going to listen. He usually doesn’t.”

Through the line, he could hear Iris sigh before she replied, “I know, but we have to try.”

Saying goodbye, Sebastian cancelled the call and slowly made his way down the driveway.

It had been four days since Barry’s fight with Zoom, and Sebastian couldn’t believe how bad things had gotten with brother since.

His twin had regained his ability to walk, although it was still painful enough for him to be living at home, but his speed - the one thin that Barry needed to see himself as a superhero - had yet to make a reappearance.

Pushing the door open, Sebastian glanced around with a grimace. Barry was lying on the couch, surrounded by a bunch of pizza boxes and, unless Sebastian wasn’t mistaken, he hadn’t showered for a few days.

He was watching some reality show Sebastian had never even heard of. The same as he had been when Sebastian had left for work that morning.

Clearly Barry hadn’t moved other than to answer the door to the delivery driver.

“If you’re going to wallow in self pity, could you at least do it in the shower?” Sebastian grumbled, closing the door behind him and kicking off his shoes.

From his position on the couch, Barry lifted a hand and flicked his middle finger up at his brother. All without looking away from the television screen.

With a snort of laughter, Sebastian muttered, “Oh, that’s mature.” He slid down into one of the armchairs and let his gaze wander over to Barry. 

Like he had been that morning, His twin was wearing a pair of old jeans, with more holes than denim. The shirt he was wearing was new, though. He had paired the jeans with a black soccer shirt that Sebastian didn’t even know he owned, or what team it was even representing.

“Where did the shirt come from?” Sebastian asked.

Barry glanced down in surprise, as though he hadn’t realised what he was wearing, before a smile slowly spread across his face. “It’s Patrick’s,” he eventually answered. Sebastian raised an eyebrow, and Barry blushed as he buried his face in a cushion. “Oh, like you’ve never stolen a boyfriend's shirt.”

He hadn’t, Sebastian wanted to argue. He’d had one boyfriend in his entire life, and that hadn’t exactly ended well. But he didn’t say anything.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve seen you smile in nearly two weeks,” he commented.

As soon as he spoke, Sebastian regretted it. The aforementioned smile was wiped from his face in the blink of an eye, and Barry was back to the same miserable mood he had been in before.

“Yeah, well,” Barry muttered, shifting around on the couch and reaching for a slice of cold pizza. “Not much to smile about these days. What with having a broken back, and everything.”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. “I was there when Caitlin went over the test results with you, Bar. You’re completely healed.”

“Then why don’t I have my speed back?” Barry snapped, lowering the cushion and glaring at his brother.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe your problem isn’t physical?” Sebastian countered. It was hard to not counter Barry’s answer with his own frustrations, but that was what Barry wanted; to get into a fight with the other metahuman. Well, Sebastian wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. “Maybe whatever is wrong with you is mental.”

Barry scoffed. “Stop the press, Barry Allen has mental issues. Newsflash,” he snapped sarcastically.

Long fingers clenched on the arm of the chair, before Sebastian got to his feet. He couldn’t do it. Trying to talk sense into Barry was always going to be difficult, but it was borderline impossible when he insisted on acting like… Well, Sebastian.

“Do you know what? I’m done,” he muttered, heading towards the stairs. “I don’t know why I keep forgetting how much of a whiny little bitch you are sometimes. I hope you drown in your own self pity,” he growled before heading up to his bedroom, slamming his door petulantly behind him as he went.

At the top of the stairs, he pulled out his phone and opened a text to Iris.

***

_Didn’t work. Time for Plan B._

Sitting at her desk at CCPN, Iris glared down at the phone, trying to will the message from Sebastian to change. It didn’t.

She wished there was more they could do to help Barry. Her brother had spent the last year putting his life in danger for the people of the city, and when he needed them the most, they were all at a loss of what to do.

After even Sebastian had failed to talk his twin out of his funk, they all knew they were out of ideas.

Well, Iris mentally corrected herself, not completely out of ideas.

There was one option she had considered, but talked herself out of. It could go horribly wrong and would mean that Barry never spoke to her again. It could also work, in which case the city would have the Flash back and her brother would be back to his old self.

Really, she didn’t have a choice.

At least, that was how she justified it to herself, opening up FaceBook on her computer.

Iris had never met the person she was looking for, but she had heard enough about him from Barry and Sebastian since his years attending Dalton Academy for High School. Locating him through the search function didn’t help - there were too many results - so instead, she switched to her alternate plan.

Scrolling through Sebastian’s list of friends, Iris couldn’t help wonder how many of them, her brother had slept with. She recognised a couple of names - including Blaine’s - from his stories, but there were a lot of names she didn’t know.

She sighed with relief when she located the person she was looking for. A brief glance at his profile, showed that he hadn’t blocked private messages from people he didn’t know.

Clicking on the message icon, Iris finally paused with her fingers over the keys, wondering again if she was doing the right thing. 

The memory of how depressed Barry had been recently made her mind up for her, and Iris finally started typing.

_Hi,_

_You don’t know me, but you went to school with my brother, Sebastian._

_He needs your help, but there’s something you should know, first…_

***

Barry was loathed to admit it, but Sebastian had been right. As soon as he’d stepped out of the shower, he had felt better. Well, he corrected himself, maybe better was too strong a word. If he was ‘better’, he would have his speed back and wouldn’t be feeling so depressed.

The house was empty when he returned to the living room. There was a note taped to the bottom of the stairs from Sebastian, telling Barry that he’d gone to Blaine’s ‘to get away from your whiny ass’.

Even though he knew that what was happening wasn’t his brother’s fault, Barry was glad Sebastian had made himself scarce again. He wanted to be alone.

Almost as though his thoughts had summoned the intrusion, there was a knock on the door. It couldn’t be Sebastian - why would he need to knock at his own door - but Barry didn’t know who else it could be. He also didn’t care.

He considered ignoring whoever it was - figuring it was probably people trying to sell him something - but the Allens were a curious pair (some would say nosey), and it didn’t take long before his curiosity got the better of him. 

“Look, I’m not…” he started to say as he pulled the door open. When he saw who was standing on the doorstep, the words died in his mouth. It wasn’t a salesman. 

Standing on the doorstep, less than three feet away from him was the best friend he hadn’t seen in person since college.

Nick Duval. 

He didn’t look much different, was Barry’s first thought when he haze of surprise lifted a little. He still had the same jet black hair, which he had started styling differently during his emo phase; Barry had always insisted it suited him, and he’d apparently decided to keep the style even though it had been years.

When he saw that the door had been answered, a smile split Nick’s face. 

“Hey,” he greeted easily, pocketing his cell phone, which had been displaying a map. When Barry didn’t react, he frowned and tightened the grip he had on the strap of a backpack. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he asked softly, the humour obvious in his voice.

“What?” Barry asked stupidly, before blushing when he realised what Nick had said. “Yeah. Sorry.” He took a step to the side, silently giving his friend permission to enter the house.

Nick grinned at him on the way past. “Thanks, Barry.” He patted Barry on the shoulder as he passed.

Silently closing the door, still not quite sure he wasn’t hallucinating, Barry tried to work out what was going on. There were a million and one questions running through his mind; one of which was how Nick had known where to find Barry. They had seen each other just after college graduation, but hadn’t really spoken much since. Adult lives and a lightning strike had pulled them both in different directions.

“Wow,” Nick whistled, scrunching up his nose when he took in the amount of empty pizza boxes on the coffee table. Barry was suddenly very glad he’d showered. “Your sister said you were depressed, but I didn’t think it was this bad,” he added.

Iris, Barry realised. That was how Nick had known where to find him. She was a meddler down to her core and always had been. After neither she nor Sebastian had been able to talk sense into him, she must have called Nick for back up.

Quickly, dread settled in Barry’s stomach. Sebastian. Shit. 

Nick didn’t know Barry. They had met at Dalton, when they had been using Sebastian’s name and he had been more of the primary than Barry. Crap. He was going to have to pretend to be his twin; just when he didn’t have the energy to pretend to be anything.

As soon as the thought occurred to him, Barry panicked thoughts skidded to a halt. Nick had… No, he couldn’t have. Barry’s eyes widened when he realised what Nick had called him upon arrival.

Not ‘Sebastian’, but ‘Barry’.

What the hell was going on?

Nick chuckled at the look of surprise on Barry’s face as he threw himself down on the couch, figuring that it was easier than waiting for an invitation. “Why don’t you stop worrying your pretty little head, and sit down?” he suggested, looking up at Barry with a raised eyebrow as he patted the couch next to him.

Numbly, Barry followed his instructions. Sliding onto the couch, he suddenly felt grateful to have the soft surface underneath him; he felt like he was going to pass out.

A feeling, he apparently couldn’t keep from his face, if Nick’s wide eyes were anything to go by. “Jeez, dude,” he grumbled, rubbing a hand over Barry’s back. “You need to breathe.”

Following his friend’s instructions, Barry drew in a deep breath, almost choking on the sudden rush of oxygen that filled his lungs. Nick hummed and nodded once he was satisfied that Barry wasn’t going to die on him.

“How…” His voice caught in his throat and Barry coughed lightly. “How did you know my name was Barry?” he asked.

“Iris told me,” Nick answered simply. When Barry frowned, he obliged and explained further. “I’ve always known there was something different about you.” It was a phrase he had heard people say a lot; as soon as they found out he wasn’t like everyone else, they all seemed to admit that they had known something was off all along. Unlike with them, Barry actually believed Nick.

“Obviously, I didn’t really understand at first,” Nick explained. “I’m not sure if it was because I was your roommate, or what, but it wasn’t difficult to realise there was more to you than it seemed.”

Barry glanced down at his hands. “How did you figure it out?” he whispered, not quite able to look Nick in the eye. He had fought so hard to keep his ‘disorder’ a secret - even the teachers hadn’t known. 

“It wasn’t obvious,” Nick told him, making Barry wonder just how bad his poker face actually was if the other man could tell what he was thinking so clearly. “But, once I noticed a few things, I couldn’t help seeing ‘Barry’ and ‘Sebastian’ all the time.” Barry chanced looking up to see that Nick was grinning at him.

When he saw that he now had Barry’s full attention, Nick continued, “When we were in our room or with the rest of the guys, you were flirty and turning literally everything you could into innuendo.” He had just described Sebastian perfectly. “Then when we were in class, you were this model student. Straight A’s, never said a thing wrong or inappropriate to the teachers.”

Nick leant forward, unfastening his jacket and pulling it off; obviously he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon. “At first I didn’t think anything of it. It was Dalton, you know? The classes were always going to need a lot of attention, so it made sense that you seemed like a different person in them. But then, after a few months, I heard you talking to yourself.”

Barry’s cheeks heated up in embarrassment. He and Sebastian had been so careful to keep their conversations mental while they had been on school grounds. Barry didn’t even remember having a verbal conversation with his brother during the entire time they had been in Dalton. Obviously, he had glossed over a few occasions in his recollection.

“Again, I didn’t think anything of it - I don’t know anyone who doesn’t talk to themselves,” Nick continued, either not noticing or ignoring Barry’s embarrassment. “But, then you started answering yourself in a completely different voice. The one you used to talk to me when you answered the door.”

“Iris was the one who told me your name is actually Barry. Barry Sebastian Allen,” he finished.

Barry smiled and shook his head. “Actually, it’s Barry Henry Allen now,” he corrected softly. After the singularity, Sebastian had chosen the middle name of Joseph for himself, while Barry - not wanting to have his brother’s name as his middle name - had opted for Henry.

Nick chuckled. “Consider me corrected,” he retorted with a smirk.

They fell into a companionable silence before a few minutes, before Barry couldn’t help asking, “What did Iris tell you?” Whatever lie his sister had spun, must have been impressive to make Nick travel over four hundred miles for him.

“That you got into a fight with a metahuman, and had your confidence knocked back,” Nick answered with a shrug of his shoulders. He sounded so nonchalant about it, Barry thought to himself. 

Barry wasn’t surprised that Nick knew about metahumans. It had been one of the things that had made them such close friends in school. Nick had always believed in the paranormal - he had been positive that his parents’ old ranch back in Texas had been haunted - so him believing in metahumans wasn’t that much of a stretch.

Nick was the only person outside of his family and the guys at STAR labs who knew what Barry had seen that night; he had learnt long ago to stop talking about the man in the lightning. Sebastian had tried to talk him out of it, but after a year of friendship, Barry had confided in Nick what he had seen that night. 

Instead of judging him like many of the other people he’d met in his life, Nick had looked at Barry with a renewed sense of awe. The truth had only strengthened their friendship.

Forcing himself to focus on the present and not wax lyrical about the past, Barry turned his attention back to Nick. “I feel like you’re going to tell me to suck it up and deal with it. That it gets better,” he grumbled.

Nick shook his head. “Last I checked I’m in no position to tell you what being a superhero is supposed to feel like.”

Barry’s eyes widened at his rather blasé way of describing his friend as a superhero. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he stammered, wishing more than ever that he had Sebastian to fall back on. His twin was a much better liar than he was.

The other man rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, Flash,” he retorted. His jaw fell open in surprise and Nick laughed. “Oh, please,” he scoffed. “You are not as good at keeping secrets as you think you are, Barry.”

“When you got struck by lightning, Iris sent me a message,” Nick explained, a look of sadness flitting across his face. “You scared a lot of people when you were in the coma, you know?” he chided.

Barry blushed and looked down. “Sorry,” he whispered, even though he wasn’t sure what he was apologising for. It wasn’t like he meant to get struck, for crying out loud. 

“Nine months later, there was a huge news story about a red streak saving people in Central City,” Nick continued. “Obviously, it got my attention. So did Iris sending me a message to say you’d woken up from your coma at pretty much the exact same time.”

Barry laughed. “They could have been completely unrelated,” he protested. Nick raised an eyebrow. “What? They could have been!” he insisted.

“Please,” Nick scoffed. “Even if I did believe in coincidences, it was almost too obvious. It was almost as easy to figure out as Oliver Queen returning from the dead and less than a week later, a hooded vigilante started running around Starling City.”

The speedster let out a low whistle. “You either spend far too much time on the internet, or you are far more observant than anyone gives you credit for.”

The darker haired man chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I just don’t ask questions. People tend to let their guards down if they don’t realise you’re still there, listening to what they say. With some people it’s easier to hear what they’re not saying, than believe the image they’re projecting to the world.”

Barry smiled at Nick’s words. It was hard to explain, but knowing that his friend knew the truth about him being the Flash - and, more importantly, didn’t judge him for it - made some of the ache he had been feeling in his chest lift a little.

Maybe he sought people’s approval more than he realised.

“Okay,” Barry said. “I get how you figured out I’m the Flash.” It was weird saying that out-loud in front of someone new. “But how the hell did you figure out I’m not Sebastian? I know Iris told you my name, but what makes you think that Seb isn’t in here?” he asked, tapping a finger against his temple.

A surprised laugh pulled itself from Nick’s throat. “When that big ass hole opened over the city, it was a huge deal. I’m talking, made-nationwide-news huge. The station kept playing it on loop for hours - hell, days.” Barry wasn’t shocked by that. He had seen the footage from pretty much every angle possible; there had been a lot of news crews there that day.

“I was watching live when the explosion happened and three people fell out of the sky,” Nick explained. “One was obviously the Flash, and the other I’m pretty sure was FIRESTORM.” Barry nodded in agreement, actually feeling pretty proud that his friend knew Ronnie and Professor Stein’s alias; well, Jax’s now, he mentally corrected himself. “I couldn’t tell for certain, but I was pretty sure the third one was the person I shared a room with.”

Nick shrugged as though figuring everything out wasn’t a big deal.

“You, Mr Duval, are a bigger nerd and smarter than anyone gives you credit for,” Barry complimented, drawing a grin from the other man.

“Like you can talk,” Nick retorted, a sparkle in his hazel eyes.

They both laughed when Barry’s stomach growled, cutting through the silence as it slowly settled over them. “God, I’m starving,” Barry complained.

“Haven’t you had your fill of pizzas?” Nick asked, counting the pizza boxes. “There’s ten here.”

Ten pizzas was an average daily consumption for Barry when he was using his speed. Even when he wasn’t using his powers - couldn’t use them - he could still pack away a few; he’d always used the excuse that he was technically eating for two people.

That being said, forcing another down his throat was the last thing he wanted to do right then.

“I don’t think I can actually stomach another one,” Barry stated, biting his lip in thought. “Chinese?”

Nick chuckled and nodded his head. “As long as it tastes nicer than the plane food, I’ll eat anything at this point.”

***

Barry had no idea how long it took for their food to arrive. He and Nick had fallen back into the easy flow of conversation they’d always had.

It was weird, but it didn’t feel as though years had passed since they had last seen each other. It felt like they’d just come back from Christmas vacation and were catching up on two weeks of gossip.

“I feel like I’ve been talking about me for hours,” Barry complained, handing Nick a fork when he scowled at the chopsticks. 

“Well, you do have the more interesting life,” Nick pointed out, pulling open his chow mein and breathing in the scent. 

Barry rolled his eyes and skewered a spring roll with a chopstick. “Come on,” he pressed, shoving the fried treat into his mouth. “There must be something interesting going on.”

Nick shrugged, not concerned with Barry’s lack of table manners. “I’m not sure it counts as interesting, but I’m newly single.” He paused as soon as the words left his mouth. “Wait, if you and Sebastian separated, are you still gay, or was that all him?” His eyes widened. “Is he straight now?”

The speedster laughed. “Sebastian? Straight?” He scoffed. “No, he’s really not. As for me…” He shrugged a little, trying to ignore the light flush that was colouring his cheeks. “I’m pretty sure my boyfriend would say that I’m Bi at the very least.” 

“What does he think of all this?” Nick asked, waving his fork around as he spoke. Barry raised a questioning eyebrow and he continued, “The superhero gig.”

Barry shifted in his seat. “He doesn’t know,” he admitted softly. When Nick’s eyes widened, he added, “It’s not really something that pops up in conversation, you know? I mean, he’s pretty cool about metahumans, but I think this,” he waved a hand to indicate himself, “would be too much to handle.”

“How the hell did you explain what happened to your back?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t seen him since. For a few days, Joe kept pretending Patrick kept missing me, but then I just thought it would be easier to tell him I needed to leave town for a while; family emergency. He seemed to buy it.”

Barry’s eyes narrowed. “But we’re not supposed to be talking about me. Now it’s your turn. Come on, fess up, Duval. What happened? How come you’re single?”

Nick laughed and waved his hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. It was never going to work, anyway. Brandon wanted late nights and partying. I’m so over that.” He pulled a face. “That’s what I get for dating younger guys, I suppose.”

Barry’s eyes widened in surprise. “Brandon?” he couldn’t help blurt. “What happened to Jeff?”

Nick laughed. “I don’t know how many times I have to insist that there has literally never been anything between Jeff and I but friendship.” He sighed with exasperation, although there was humour shining in his eyes. “Besides, Jeff’s straight.”

A piece of chicken chose that exact moment to get lodged in Barry’s throat and he coughed wildly, trying to gasp for air. “Jeff?” he gasped when he had recovered. “Straight?” Nick nodded seriously and Barry whistled. “Wow, that’s…” He shook his head. “But he’s so…”

“Jeff?” Nick offered and Barry agreed with a laugh. “He’s been like that since we were in first grade. He just wants to be friends with everyone, and it can come across as a little… gay sometimes.”

***

Sebastian winced as he touched the corner of his lip with a gloved hand. Having powers was supposed to help him, not distract him enough that he didn’t see someone sneaking up behind him until it was too late.

It wasn’t even like he had Barry’s enhanced healing anymore. Nope, now any injuries that Sebastian obtained, he had to suffer through the old fashioned way.

Everything would be so much easier when Barry was back to his normal self. 

Grabbing his phone from where it was lying on the desk - the costume wasn’t the best when it came to pocket space - he frowned when he saw he didn’t have any messages. 

He would have thought by now that Barry would have at least text-yelled at him. Suggesting to Iris that she recruit Nick into the ‘Save Barry’ plan was a risk; Sebastian knew that. But he also hadn’t seen that there’d been another choice.

Barry needed help and none of them have been able to provide it.

The illusionist started in surprise when he heard the familiar whooshing sound of Barry’s rushing into the cortex. His eyes widened when he realised he wasn’t alone.

Nick was with him.

“Shit,” Nick groaned as soon as they came to a stop. “I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea.” He leant forward, hands on his thighs as he took a deep breath.

Beside him, Barry smiled sympathetically, running a hand up and down his back. “I did warn you,” he pointed out.

Barry was making no attempt to hide his voice and he wasn’t wearing his Flash mask. So, apparently Nick knew about him as well now. Sebastian really did think he needed to create a spreadsheet or something; the list of people who knew was getting uncontrollable now.

“Erm, hey guys,” Sebastian said, getting his attention when Nick’s breath returned to normal.

Nick lifted his head and his eyes widened in surprise. “Wow,” he whispered. “I know you were always going to look alike, but…” He shook his head. “That’s uncanny,” he added.

Before Sebastian had chance to react to his words, Nick pulled him into a tight hug. “It’s good to see you again, Seb,” the former Warbler said, pressing a soft kiss to Sebastian’s cheek.

“You too, Nick,” Sebastian murmured, returning the hug and kiss before stepping back. “You don’t look as surprised to see me here as I would have expected.”

Barry laughed and pulled off his jacket. “Don’t bother trying to wrap your head around it,” he suggested. “Apparently he’s known for months.”

Nick smirked. “Well not known known,” he corrected. “More like ‘suspected with a lot of proof to back up the theory’.”

Sebastian was still confused, but he honestly didn’t care. He had never been big on keeping the truth secret; everyone was right, he was crap at keeping things hidden. He would tell Nick everything if the other man wanted.

He was just happy that their plan seemed to have worked. Whatever Nick had said to Barry had done wonders; his speed was back and he was laughing and joking as usual. It was almost like nothing had happened.

“You said something about the grand tour?” Nick said, turning his attention back at Barry.

Barry practically bounced on the spot. “You coming, Seb?” he asked his brother. When Sebastian nodded, Barry turned back to Nick. “You’re not taking pictures.”

Nick pouted and Sebastian laughed, wondering how on Earth Barry had known what Nick was thinking. “But how else am I supposed to prove this to Jeff?” he complained.

Sebastian laughed and patted Nick on the shoulder. “Sorry, Nicky. Your boyfriend’s going to have to stay in the dark about this one.”

He frowned when the other two looked at each other, before bursting out laughing. “What?” he demanded, putting his hands on his hips.

“Jeff,” Nick began, still chuckling to himself. “Jeff’s not my boyfriend. He’s straight.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened. “What? No he’s not!” Barry nodded solemnly, backing up what Nick was saying. “How is that even possible?” he questioned following them down the corridor. “He’s Jeff!”

*


	8. Legends of Today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barry and Sebastian enjoy their mornings with their boyfriends, before they're rudely dragged back into the real world after an attack on a barista named Kendra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This a two part chapter that will continue into the Arrow episode 'Legends of Yesterday'.

The first thing Barry became aware of when he woke up was that he wasn’t in his apartment.

For a brief moment, he felt himself start to panic, but he managed to quell that feeling almost as quickly as it had arrived.

He knew exactly where he was. Over the last few weeks, he had spent more than enough time in there to know that he was in Patrick’s bed. 

Rolling on to his side, he grinned when he saw that he was right, and Patrick was lying beside him. The sheets had slipped down his chest during the night, exposing his skin to semi-coolness of the room.

Barry smiled to himself and couldn’t help reaching out, running a hand down Patrick’s chest; trying to keep his touch light, so he didn’t wake the sleeping police officer.

Despite the gentleness of Barry’s touch, Patrick stirred and his eyes slowly fluttered open. When he saw Barry lying next to him, a sleepy smile spread across Patrick’s face.

“Morning,” Patrick greeted, running a hand through his already sleep tousled hair. 

The speedster grinned and shuffled closer to his boyfriend. “Morning,” he repeated the greeting, sliding his leg between Patrick’s as their lips met in a soft kiss.

Against his mouth, Barry felt Patrick smile, before he was pulled even closer and the kiss was deepened. 

Waking up next to someone was _definitely_ something Barry knew he could get used to, he thought as Patrick shifted so Barry was lying on his back, and the other man was hovering over him.

“What are you thinking about?” Patrick asked, nuzzling Barry’s neck gently.

Barry chuckled softly and tipped his head back, giving Patrick better access to his neck. “Would you believe me if I said you?” he replied.

Against his skin, Patrick hummed and gently bit down, making Barry gasp as pleasure shot through him. He had never had a biting kink before (at least, he didn’t think he did); where did that come from, he wondered.

“Maybe,” Patrick mused, licking at the skin he had just bitten soothingly. “It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t mock you mercilessly, just to warn you.”

Patrick slid a hand down Barry’s chest and the speedster couldn’t have kept the moan in if he had tried. It felt like a trail of fire had followed Patrick’s hand, and that heat was heading straight for his groin. Every time Patrick’s touched him, Barry like he was going to explode with pleasure.

He couldn’t remember ever feeling anything like it.

“I love how responsive you are,” Patrick whispered, pulling his attention away from Barry’s neck and moving in to kiss him on the lips again.

They were millimetres away from each other when Barry’s phone starting chiming shrilly from the bedside table. With a groan, Patrick pulled away and flopped down beside Barry. 

“I swear, if that’s Seb, I’m going to kill him,” Barry grumbled, stretching over and grabbing the phone.

It wasn’t Sebastian. It was a distress call from Cisco’s cell. He was in trouble.

Quickly silencing the sound, Barry turned to Patrick and opened his mouth. Before he even managed to get the words out, Patrick placed a finger over his lips. 

“Let me guess, work?” Barry nodded, only half lying; technically being the Flash was his job as much as being a CSI was. “Go,” Patrick instructed with a soft kiss. “I’ll stay here and wait for _my_ rude awakening.”

Barry grinned and kissed him again, trying to not focus on how bad he felt knowing that his boyfriend wasn’t going to get a call about the same thing. 

He dressed quickly - trying to resist using his super speed - and placed one more kiss on Patrick’s lips, before heading for the door.

As he slipped out of the room, Barry didn’t look back at the other man lying naked on the bed behind him. 

If he did, Barry couldn’t accurately say he would have left.

***

Sebastian was dying, he decided with a gasp as pleasure shot through him, and he tightened his grip on the bedsheets.

Above him, Blaine grinned as much as he could, considering his mouth was full and continued sucking.

Yup, he was definitely dying. But what a way to go.

The illusionist had woken up to find himself being stroked to full hardness by Blaine, while said boyfriend worked on sucking a hickey to Sebastian’s naked chest.

“Fuck,” Sebastian gasped when the head of his cock hit the back of Blaine’s throat. He released his grip on the sheets, before relocating one of his hands to Blaine’s hair. “You are too good at this,” he whispered.

Blaine hummed happily around his cock and Sebastian keened at the pleasure the vibrations gave him.

Sebastian knew he wasn’t going to last much longer; he had been turned on from the moment Blaine had woken him; honestly, he was surprised he had lasted this long. He wanted to warn the other man - give him a heads up, before Sebastian exploded - but then Blaine started rolling Sebastian’s balls with his long fingers.

There was no way Sebastian could stave off his orgasm then.

With a strangled cry of Blaine’s name and an arch of his back, Sebastian came down Blaine’s throat.

When he was sure that he had swallowed every drop Sebastian had to give, Blaine let his cock slip from his mouth with an obscene pop.

Blaine grinned and shuffled up Sebastian’s body, not stopping until they were face to face. “Morning,” he greeted, the grin spreading across his face as he took in Sebastian’s blissed out look.

Sebastian chuckled and reached out, kissing Blaine hotly; tasting himself on the other man’s tongue made his cock twitch with interest again. 

“Morning,” Sebastian whispered in response as they pulled away. “I could get used to being woken up like that.”

The darker haired man laughed and buried his face in Sebastian’s shoulder. “I know it was unexpected, but you were right there, and I couldn’t resist. I…”

Sebastian placed his finger over Blaine’s lips, cutting off the babbling with one gesture. “Killer, what during everything that just happened made you think that I didn’t enjoy it?”

Blaine blushed a little and Sebastian couldn’t resist pressing a kiss against his nose; it was so sweet in comparison to what they had been doing before, but it just seemed like the right thing to do.

As they made out, Sebastian felt the heat begin to build between them again. Sebastian let out a groan as Blaine rocked his erection into Sebastian’s steadily renewing arousal.

Without breaking the kiss, Sebastian slid a hand down Blaine’s back, pulling him closer…

Just as Sebastian’s phone started ringing.

Both men groaned in disappointment, and Sebastian added a growl of irritation.

“I swear, if that’s Barry, I’m going to fucking kill him,” Sebastian groaned. He wanted to ignore it, but the logical part of him knew that, whoever it was, was going to keep calling him.

With a sigh, Blaine moved from on top of Sebastian, so the other man could reach for his phone.

It wasn’t Barry, Sebastian quickly. It was an alert coming from Cisco’s phone. He was in trouble.

Regretfully, Sebastian turned back to face Blaine; he didn’t know how he was going explain that he needed to leave - hell, he didn’t even want to, but he couldn’t leave his friend in trouble.

Luckily for him, Blaine recognised the fight Sebastian was having with himself and pressed a soft kiss against Sebastian’s forehead. “Go,” he whispered, running his hands down Sebastian’s neck and chest. “I have to get up for work soon, anyway.”

Sebastian felt a stab of guilt and captured Blaine’s lips with his, in a passionate kiss as he tried to push the guilt away.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, before getting to his feet and starting to get dressed.

Halfway through pulling on his pants, Sebastian realised he couldn’t find his shirt. “Hey, babe, have you seen my…” The words died on his throat when he turned toward the bed and saw that Blaine had taken matters into his own hands. Quite literally.

Blaine paused his stroking and looked up at Sebastian with lidded eyes. “Did you say something?” he asked, a smirk crossing his face that gave away that he knew exactly what Sebastian was thinking.

Sebastian groaned and couldn’t resist palming his renewed arousal through his under. “You are an evil man, Anderson,” he snarled.

The other man just laughed and renewed his stroking, letting out a soft moan that sounded suspiciously like Sebastian’s name.

The temptation to stay was so strong; the temptation to stay and show Blaine how much better the reality was in comparison to his fantasy.

But, deep down, Sebastian knew that he couldn’t leave Cisco alone; Barry might need back up for whatever the problem was.

*

Sebastian arrived a STAR labs a short while later, just in time to hear a vaguely-familiar voice murmur. “Wow, this place is insane.”

Wishing that he hadn’t left his costume at STAR labs, Sebastian slowly stepped into the cortex. 

Standing in the centre of the room, were Barry, Cisco and the newest barista at Jitters - Kendra. Barry was still wearing his Flash suit, but his cowl was down - so Kendra clearly knew the truth about who he was.

Barry looked up when he heard footsteps enter the room, spotting Sebastian, before turning to Kendra. “Kendra,” he said, “you’ve already met my brother, Sebastian.”

Nervously, Kendra waved at Sebastian. “You’re in on this whole Flash business as well?” 

Desperately, Sebastian tried to stop his eyes from flickering to the back of the chair where he’d left his jacket, before he’d ducked out to spend the night before with Blaine. He obviously hadn’t succeeded, because Kendra’s eyes went wide and her mouth fell open. 

“Oh my god, you’re the new guy? Sapphire Illusion?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have told Iris about that,” Sebastian grumbled, glancing over at Barry who threw him a sympathetic look. The day after his sister had found out about Sebastian’s secret identity (and indeed his powers), CCPN had published a story on the city’s newest superhero.

It didn’t take long for Joe and Roy to arrive, and as soon as they did, Barry dove straight into explaining what happened at Jitters.

When he found out about Cisco’s date being ruined, Sebastian couldn’t help throwing him an apologetic look; being cock-blocked was never a good thing. _Especially_ if it came from a crazy psychopath.

“This is the same knife that was used to kill the men at the docks,” Barry finished off his explanation, holding up the aforementioned weapon in its police issued evidence bag; you could take the CSI out of the crime lab…

“So it’s the same guy,” Joe surmised, to which Barry nodded. “That doesn’t look like a new knife.”

“It’s not,” Barry agreed. “They’d old. Centuries old.”

Pushing his chair away from the desk, Sebastian turned to look at Kendra. She was a bit green, he thought to himself. “Do you have any idea why this guy would be after you?”

Kendra shook her head, fiddling absentmindedly with the necklace hanging around her throat; an Egyptian ankh if Sebastian remembered correctly (hey, he read as well!). “I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

Cisco pursed his lips and murmured, “Well, he certainly seemed to know you.” He glanced at the others. “He kept calling her Priestess Chay-Ara.”

From across the room, Harry mused, “That’s Coptic.” Sebastian span around in surprise and glared at him; he hadn’t even heard the Earth-2 intruder come in.

“Egyptian,” Barry informed Sebastian before he could question what the hell Coptic meant.

Kendra frowned. “I’m from Wisconsin,” she stated. “I’ve never even been outside of the US.”

Barry offered her an apologetic smile. “I know it sucks, but this guy is obviously dangerous and he’s clearly out to get you. I need you to let us protect you,” he begged.

“I’ll put a cop detail on her,” Joe offered, but Barry shook his head.

“That won’t work,” he stated. “You didn’t see this guy, Joe. The cops won’t be able to take him on.”

Sebastian stood up a little straighter at Barry’s words. He had a feeling he knew who his brother was thinking of. He opened his mouth to ask, but then remembered that there were people who didn’t know Oliver’s secret identity and changed his question to, “The Green Arrow? Don’t you think he’s a little busy to help us?”

Barry nodded. “He’s got more experience than we do. Besides, how busy can they be?”

***

Team Arrow’s new hideout was insanely _cool,_ both Barry and Sebastian couldn’t help gushing as soon as they stepped out of the elevator. 

“Nice new digs,” Barry murmured as he looked around them.

Beside him, Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Please don’t say that again,” he requested, before his eyes landed on Felicity. “Hey, Felicity,” he greeted with a grin.

The blonde’s eyes were wide in disbelief and for a second, Sebastian couldn’t work out what was wrong with their friend. Then he remembered; the last time they had seen each other had been before the singularity. 

“Wow,” she whispered, getting to her feet and hugging Sebastian tightly. “I’m still amazed by how you managed to separate, you know?”

Thea frowned deeply. “Separate?” she asked, confusion obvious in her voice.

Sebastian hesitated, not entirely sure how much more Thea could take. She had only just gotten over the shock of her brother _knowing_ the Flash; he didn’t want to overwhelm her.

The decision was taken out of his hands when Oliver explained, “Seb and Barry used to share the same body.” Thea’s eyes widened, but she didn’t otherwise speak. “That outfit looks good on you, by the way.”

Sebastian preened under the praise, before casting a critical eye over Oliver’s own costume. “How come mine has sleeves, but yours doesn’t?” he asked, not that he didn’t appreciate the sleeves; road rash was a bitch even though leather. It would be worse in the cold. “Don’t you get cold?”

An exasperated smile crossed Oliver’s face - nothing had changed there, then - and Oliver rolled his eyes. “I spent the better part of five years on an island in the North China sea. I don’t get cold, Seb.”

Felicity moved over to Barry and pulled the speedster into a tight hug. “I’ve missed you - _both_ of you - so much,” she gushed, squeezing Barry so tightly it made _Sebastian’s_ ribs hurt in sympathy. Before Barry could even think about hugging her back, she released him. Then punched him in the chest.

“Ow!” Barry exclaimed.

“How come you didn’t tell me Zoom broke your back?” she demanded, before hugging him tightly again. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Sebastian and Oliver laughed at the expression on Barry’s face as he was squeezed by the petite blonde. “I’m starting to understand what it feels like to date her,” the speedster managed to quip at Oliver.

Oliver chuckled and nodded his head. “More bruises from her than Deathstroke.” The amused look disappeared from his face when Felicity glared at him, making Sebastian laugh. Until the glare was turned on him, that was.

Quickly - far too quickly for Sebastian’s liking - the mood in the room changed to serious as they made introductions and got down to the real reason why they were in Star City. 

“Seb said you need our help,” Oliver said, looking at Kendra. “Somebody very dangerous is after you.”

Kendra’s mouth turned down in a frown and she nodded her head. “Yeah, and I have no idea why.”

“What does this guy even look like?” Thea asked.

Barry and Sebastian exchanged glances. They hadn’t thought about how they were going to find the guy they were looking for, and there was no way Barry was a good enough artist to be able to sketch him; super speed did not equal super drawing abilities. 

“We can tap into Jitters’s CCTV,” Cisco suggested, sitting down at Felicity’s computer and moving closer to the keyboard.

Felicity yelped and jumped forward. “Don’t you dare!” she ordered, jogging up the few stairs to the central platform (how did she do that in _those_ heels, Sebastian thought). Cisco let out an indignant cry as he was pushed away from the computer and Felicity sat down.

A few keystrokes later, she confirmed that there was a good enough image of the attacker to run through facial recognition.

It wasn’t long before the computer beeped with a match. “That’s him,” Kendra said, seeing the image over Felicity’s shoulder.

Felicity frowned. “Yeah, this picture’s from 1975.”

Sebastian’s eyes widened. “But that would make him…” He trailed off, waiting for Barry to fill in the blanks.

“About eighty.”

The illusionist nodded. “Exactly.”

Cisco groaned and ran a hand over his face. “I need a drink,” he grumbled.

Oliver couldn’t stop the smirk appearing on his face. “Tell me about it.”

***

To say they were supposed to be trying to relax, the atmosphere at Oliver’s loft was pretty tense. Thea and Cisco were half-heartedly bickering about her nickname (Barry was with Cisco; Speedy wasn’t the best nickname, he’d ever heard).

Oliver and Sebastian were standing across the room; the younger of the two was talking very animatedly about something Barry couldn’t hear from where he was observing with Felicity.

“I can’t believe you’re CEO of Palmer Technologies _and_ living with Oliver Queen,” Barry commented, turning his attention back to Felicity.

Felicity grinned, preening a little under his compliment. “I know. It’s amazing how quickly life can change in six months,” she commented, glancing over his shoulder to Oliver and Sebastian.

Barry knew without looking that it wasn’t Oliver that had her attention captured. “It’s been trippy,” he agreed with a nod of his head, taking a drink.

“How is he handling it?” Felicity asked. “Being apart from you.”

The speedster shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not like Sebastian’s ever been good at talking about his feelings,” he replied. “But he seems to be handling it okay.” He followed her gaze and smiled when Sebastian laughed at something Oliver said. “He’s wanted to be his own person for as long as I can remember, so this is probably a dream come true for him.”

Felicity frowned, as though she could hear something in his voice, something Barry wasn’t sure even he could hear. “Okay, second question: how are _you_ handling it?” she asked, her eyes boring into Barry’s to make sure he couldn’t look away.

Barry shifted the grip on his glass as he thought about the question. He wasn’t sure what the answer was, if he were being honest. For a long time he had relied on Sebastian, and he had always dreaded the moment his brother wouldn’t be there for him, and he wouldn’t have that familiar comfort to fall back on. But then, on the other hand, it had been months since they had separated, and Barry had done things he would have never imagined. On his own. Without his brother there, inside his head to guide him.

“I think I’m doing okay,” he eventually answered honestly, looking back at Felicity. “There are still times when I try talk to him inside my head, but I think that’s out of habit more than anything else. A lifetime of sharing a body with someone means you developed some pretty weird habits.”

Felicity chuckled and placed a hand on his arm, squeezing gently; this time not trying to leave bruises like she had earlier. “Sounds like you just need to find someone else to talk to more frequently,” she commented, a sly smirk on her face.

Barry could feel his cheeks warm up and her jaw fell open in surprise. “You already have someone? And you didn’t tell me?” Her lips formed a pout.

“Two someones, actually,” Barry corrected, making her eyes widen. He blushed again and hurried to add, “Not like _that_. After my fight with Zoom, Seb and Iris intervened and brought my best friend from high school to Central. Turns out he’s known about the two of us all along, and he had even figured out that I was the Flash.”

Felicity whistled. “Wow!” she breathed. “He sounds intelligent. You might want to keep him around.”

Barry chuckled. “He’s a curator at the Museum of Art in Columbus. Thankfully, it’s pretty easy to get to him if I ever need to talk.”

“And the other someone?” Felicity pressed, almost bouncing in her five inch heels.

“Patrick,” Barry answered with a dreamy smile. “He’s a cop with Joe.” He paused for dramatic effect, before adding, “He’s also my boyfriend.”

Felicity squealed and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him over as she hugged him tightly. “Oh my god, Barry!” she gushed. “I am so happy for you.”

Returning the hug, Barry pressed a kiss against her cheek. “Thanks, Felicity,” he whispered. “I am really happy with Patrick,” he added, his lips curving up into a smile as he thought about the other man. 

The blonde’s smile was so wide, Barry was pretty sure she would swallow up the whole room if it got any wider. “This is perfect. I’m with Oliver, you’re with Patrick.” She paused, eyes flickering back to the other’s. “We just need to find someone for Sebastian.”

Barry grinned and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “It’s funny you should say that, because I’m pretty sure he’s already with someone.” Sebastian hadn’t actually confirmed that he and Blaine were dating, but it was pretty obvious to the speedster.

Felicity gasped and elbowed him in the ribs. “Spill, Allen,” she demanded, making him laugh loudly.

*


End file.
